A baby girl who died from meningitis might have been saved if doctors had tested her for the infection sooner, rather than putting her symptoms down to Covid, an inquest jury has found.
Five-month-old Esta High died at Leeds General Infirmary in November 2023, days after she was taken into the emergency department with a high temperature and vomiting.
She had tested positive for coronavirus, and so opportunities were missed when doctors stuck with a diagnosis of Covid, the inquest found.
Esta died from streptococcus pneumoniae meningitis, and her parents Lynsey Carr and Leon High told the inquest that doctors had missed vital chances to test for a bacterial infection and start vital antibiotic treatment.
Carr told the inquest, at Wakefield coroner’s court, that their concerns were ignored until it was too late.
Carr said she and her partner had refused advice from doctors to take Esta home, as she would not stop vomiting and had a temperature of over 40C.
She said her daughter developed a rash and her arm started shaking, which she feared was a seizure. She told the jury “we were extremely worried” and “kept asking for help”, but “staff were rude and don’t listen to our concerns”.
Carr told the inquest that the family, from Leeds, were put into a side room at the hospital’s children’s assessment and treatment (CAT) unit, adding that she believed staff were more concerned with isolating Esta due to the Covid risk than listening to her parents.
She described Esta’s time on the CAT unit as “15 hours that were filled with missed opportunities”.
“Unfortunately, as our daughter had been left untreated for 55 hours, it was too late to save our darling girl,” Carr told the inquest, describing her daughter as “bright, beautiful and perfect from the first moment”.
Source: The Guardian, 20 October 2026
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