We must challenge 'doctor knows best' attitude, bereaved mother says

Merope Mills, an editor at the Guardian, has questioned doctors' attitudes after her 13-year-old daughter Martha's preventable death in hospital.

Martha had sustained a rare pancreatic trauma after falling off a bike on a family holiday, and spent weeks in a specialist unit where she developed sepsis.

An inquest concluded that her death was preventable, and the hospital apologised.

Ms Mills said her daughter would be alive today if doctors had not kept information from the parents about her condition, because they would have demanded a second opinion.

She added that doctors' attitudes "reeked of misogyny", citing a moment when her "anxiety" was used as an argument to not send critical care to Martha.

In a statement, Prof Clive Kay, chief executive of King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said he was "deeply sorry that we failed Martha when she needed us most".

"Our focus now is on ensuring the specific learnings from her case are used to improve the care our teams provide - and that is what we are committed to doing."

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Source: BBC News, 6 October 2022

Further reading on the hub 

• ‘We had such trust, we feel such fools’: how shocking hospital mistakes led to our daughter’s death (The Guardian)
• “Are you questioning my clinical judgement?” Suppressing parents’ concerns is a serious patient safety risk