Girl died days after Sandwell hospital release
A seven-year-old girl died days after being released from hospital, where a doctor said she was 'fine' despite her lips being blue, an inquest heard.
Simran Dhesi had also been vomiting and was complaining of abdominal pain when she was admitted to Sandwell General Hospital on September 7, 2010, the hearing at Smethwick Council House was told yesterday.
Despite her having had a heart operation shortly before her sixth birthday, doctors allowed her to go, telling her mother to go her to her GP if the symptoms persisted.
Three days later, at Leicester Royal Infirmary, Simran died during an emergency operation to drain fluid from her abdomen. A statement from Simran's mother, Tarlochan Dhesi, who lived on Hugh Road in Smethwick at the time, was read at the hearing as evidence.
In it, she said: "I asked the lady doctor to check Simran's stomach. She moved her stomach this way and that way and said it was fine. I asked her why her stomach was so hard. She said it was fine. I asked about Simran's lips being blue and she said it was because it was cold."
Mrs Dhesi told the hearing that the day after her visit to Sandwell Hospital, Simran's condition was worsening, so she was taken to see her GP. On September 9, she went back to the hospital. This time doctors discovered she had liver failure and fluid in her abdomen. They decided to transfer her to Leicester Royal Infirmary.
Doctors there carried out an emergency procedure to drain the fluid, during which Simran went into cardiac arrest and died, the inquest heard. Dr Mark Davies, a consultant radiologist at Sandwell General, told the hearing an ultrasound found 'free fluid' inside her.
Dr Claire Bowen said death was caused by cardiac and liver failures. The doctor who saw Simran first was not present at the hearing.
The inquest continues.
