NHS hospital too slow to treat doctor’s son who died of sepsis, coroner rules

A hospital failed to treat the son of one of its consultants with antibiotics and fluids with the required urgency hours before he died of sepsis, a coroner has ruled.

It was unclear whether mistakes and delays in the treatment of William Hewes, 22, on 21 January contributed to his death, the coroner, Mary Hassell, said.

The death of Hewes raised similar issues to the death of 13-year-old Martha Mills in 2021, Hassell said. Martha’s death led to the adoption of Martha’s rule, which gives families the right to a second opinion on medical treatment.

Hewes, who was studying politics and history at Leeds University, died of meningococcal septicaemia at Homerton hospital in east London, where his mother, Dr Deborah Burns, was a consultant paediatrician.

Burns told the inquest she had been unable to work at the hospital since her son’s death because of feelings of “betrayal” towards colleagues who ignored her warnings about his treatment.

Burns repeatedly asked medics to administer lifesaving antibiotics in the vital first hour of his treatment. But antibiotics were not given until 1.25am due to a misunderstanding between a doctor and nurses, the inquest at Bow coroner’s court heard. There was also a delay of about 90 minutes in transferring Hewes from the resuscitation area of A&E to the intensive care unit amid a disagreement between medics about escalating his care.

The hospital admitted these mistakes were “suboptimal”. Hassell said Hewes was not treated “with the urgency he should have been” but added: “It is unclear whether, if he had been administered all appropriate treatment promptly, his life would have been saved.”

She said she would issue a prevention of future deaths report to Homerton hospital on the basis that the work it had done since Hewes’s death should be shared nationally.

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Source: The Guardian, 27 March 2025