Sepsis errors caused 'preventable' death of girl

The death of a three-year-old girl could have been prevented if hospital staff had followed sepsis guidelines, a coroner ruled.

Zadie Ajetunmobi was taken to Broomfield Hospital, Essex, with a temperature of 40 degrees (104F) on 10 November 2022.

She died less than 10 hours later after suffering a cardiac arrest, with post-mortem tests showing her death was from complications associated with sepsis.

Senior coroner Lincoln Brookes said if staff had adhered to the sepsis pathway immediately, "her death would likely have been prevented".

In a later report provided to the family by the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, it was disclosed that staff had failed to update local sepsis guidance since 2017.

Zadie's parents, Theo and Rhiannon, said that if the correct procedure had been followed, she would have had a potentially life-saving dose of intravenous antibiotics.

Instead, the medicine was not administered for more than seven hours following her arrival, an inquest at Essex Coroner's Court heard.

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Source: BBC News, 19 September 2024