Chloe Rideout, who died at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro in October 2018, was “let down” by healthcare professionals, according to her mother in a recent news article.
Sharon Rideout told a coroner that she raised a number of concerns about the care her daughter Chloe received at Plymouth's Derriford Hospital, with concerns over delays in surgery, but “sepsis was never mentioned during her treatment”.
Doctors told Chloe, a week after she initially felt unwell, that she may have appendicitis, however an inquest heard that the post-mortem concluded that Chloe died from multi-organ failure due to sepsis and a perforated appendix post-operatively.
Co-Head of our Clinical Negligence team Stuart Bramley said “It is terribly saddening to learn about Chloe’s story. If the details given in the Mail report are correct, I am astonished that someone lying on the floor in agony at a hospital needed to wait 5 hours before being admitted to a ward; that despite her pain continuing she was discharged home; that despite that history she was seen at home by a nurse rather than a doctor; and that despite clinicians apparently telling her she may have appendicitis, her appendix ruptured before she could be operated on.”
“The risk of sepsis following any internal damage is high and the hospital may need to explain why Chloe was not given precautionary antibiotics after the operation. Legal claims I have handled involving a burst appendix suggest that with swift and appropriate input the patient stands a high chance of surviving.”
“I do hope the inquest gives Chloe’s family the answers they must desperately need; and I hope that all concerned learn appropriate lessons from this tragedy”.
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