Tuesday, February 10, 2009

Why was she not admitted to hospital?

There is a troubling story carried by the BBC. It is a tale of the deeply sad demise of 8 year old Sophie Waller.

If you read the article on the BBC here, the situation appears to have been this:

Sophie was remarkably afraid of dentists.

She had a loose tooth and so would not eat.

As this had happened before, the family GP arranged that the tooth be removed under general anaesthetic.

Not only was that tooth removed, but all her milk teeth were removed on the 9th of November 2005.

She refused to open her mouth to talk or eat.

She was kept in hospital until the 17th of November and given a feeding tube and was then sent home, on the understanding that she would have a bed if needed if things did not improve. (Some minor presumption on my part)

Despite attempts to feed her and contact with a psychologist her health deteriorated.

Four days before she died on the 2nd of December her parents asked for her to be readmitted, that was refused.

There are a number of currently unanswered questions here.

The first of which is who decided to remove all the milk teeth in one go, presumably leaving Sophie very self conscious? Was consent asked for, and if so who gave it?

Who refused re admittance to hospital and why?

The inquest continues, and I hope these questions are answered.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The refusal to eat may not have been entirely voluntary. She may have had trismus. when I had some impacted wisoms removed I couldn't fully open my mouth afterwards and it took some 15 minutes to eat a sandwich.