Parents consider legal action after teenager dies following discharge from hospital
22 Jul 2010
A couple from Stourport-on-Severn are considering legal action
after their daughter died, despite repeated complaints to the
hospital where she was being treated that she was seriously
unwell.
Amy Carter, 15, fell ill in December 2009 with flu-like symptoms
and was prescribed antibiotics by a local doctor.
When she continued to suffer, she was taken to Worcestershire Royal
Hospital, where she was diagnosed with glandular fever.
Despite the fact that she had not eaten for 19 days, she was
discharged two days later and told to rest and take
paracetamol.
Although Amy said she feared she would die and her parents
Jacqueline and Richard complained to hospital staff that she was
weak, they insisted she should be sent home.
Days later, Amy suffered multiple organ failure and four heart
attacks and died on Christmas Eve.
Tests later found that Amy had been suffering from a lethal
combination of glandular fever and streptococcal toxic shock
syndrome, which showed up on the throat swabs the teenager had been
given before she was discharged.
Her parents have said they are considering a claim for clinical
negligence against Worcestershire Hospitals NHS Trust, insisting
not enough was done to save Amy's life.
"My daughter died because her healthcare was inadequate, more could
have been done," Mr Carter commented.
Recent research published by Imperial College London suggested that
as many as one in six NHS patients is at risk of
misdiagnosis.
