Girl, 13, asked mother ‘if she was going to die’ before she passed away from sepsis
07 October 2024 9:01pm BST
A 13-year-old girl in “unbearable” pain asked her mother if she would die before she passed away from sepsis while hospital treatment was allegedly delayed, an inquest heard.
Chloe Longster was taken to the emergency department of Kettering General Hospital in Northamptonshire on 28 Nov 2022 after she awoke with pain in her ribs and cold-like symptoms.
She was admitted to the paediatric ward, Skylark, that evening and was later transferred to intensive care where she was intubated, and died the following morning.
At an inquest, which began at Northampton coroner’s court on Monday, Chloe’s mother told Sophie Lomas, the assistant coroner, that pain relief for her daughter was “delayed”.
Her parents were “devastated” by her death, which they believe was “completely preventable”.
Chloe’s mother, Louise Longster, told the inquest that her daughter was “wincing and squirming” from pain while in hospital.
She said: “Chloe asked if she could be put to sleep because it was unbearable. I remember thinking how pale and clammy she looked.
“It’s harrowing to see your own child in so much pain.
“She was clock-watching constantly – she knew when her paracetamol and ibuprofen were due and it was always delayed. It was like we were chasing her pain rather than getting on top of it.
“Chloe asked me on Skylark if she was going to die. It’s haunting that the 13 year-old was the one that was right. It’s devastating.”
Mrs Longster said she heard Chloe’s chest “crackling” as she lay in the hospital bed, which she flagged to a nurse.
She said she felt that she was being a “nuisance” and “dramatic” because she was trying to get more help for Chloe.
It was not until Chloe was put in a side room and diagnosed with influenza A that it was “taken seriously or acknowledged how much pain she was in”, Mrs Longster told the court.
Chloe’s blood pressure was recorded for the first time on the system nearly eight hours after she arrived at the hospital.
Dr Marwan Gamaleldin, an A&E consultant, saw Chloe three or four times before she was transferred to the paediatric ward and believed she had a chest infection at the time.
He said: “It was already flagged that pain was the main thing. She did not come across as struggling to breathe. The pain was described as severe so the next logical step was to jump to morphine.
“She had four doses of pain relief with three different medications. I appreciate that maybe it was not enough, but it was four doses of pain relief.”
Dr Gamaleldin said that in the two-hour period that he observed Chloe, he “did not think” that she had sepsis.