Failure to Diagnose E. coli Infection in Seven-Year-Old Leads to Emergency Blood Transfusion
A seven-year-old girl who had been sent home from a hospital four times, required an emergency blood transfusion by the time doctors correctly diagnosed that she was suffering from E. coli poisoning, according to a story in the Shields Gazette.
“I was made to feel like I was being a silly parent. I felt like they didn’t believe me,” said Sarah Coulson, the girls’s mother. “I’m angry and I can’t stop thinking about it. We could have put her to bed and she might not have woken up. It was only my husband making me take her to hospital that meant she got the treatment she needed.”
"Failure to diagnose an E. coli infection can lead to serious harm, including severe dehydration, hypertension, colitis and kidney failure," said food safety attorney Fred Pritzker. "That this young girl was sent home four times is unconscionable."
When the Coulsons first brought their daughter to the hospital in South Tyneside, England, they were sent home with a prescription of rehydration salts. After their daughter became sicker, they returned and were again sent home. The next day they brought her back and doctors took samples performed and examination and sent her home again with a directive to drink more water. Later, a pediatrician performed another examination, and sent them home again, according to the story.
The Coulsons then decided to seek another opinion and brought their daughter to the Royal Victoria Infirmary where she was admitted immediately to the intensive care unit and spent two days receiving treatment, including a blood transfusion.
