Robbed of life

TRAGIC Jack Adcock died after getting “truly, exceptionally bad” treatment in a hospital, a court heard yesterday.

The six-year-old was let down by a series of failures after being admitted to a ward with sickness and diarrhoea, it was alleged.

It was said a doctor did not diagnose his condition properly — then interrupted efforts to save him after he suffered a cardiac arrest when she “inexplicably” got him mixed up with another child.

Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba, 38, confused Jack with a boy who had been under a “Do Not Resuscitate” order but who had already been discharged, Nottingham crown court heard.



A junior doctor allegedly spotted the error and a team battled for an hour to save him.

But Jack, who had the deadly infection sepsis, was too far gone and died 11 hours after his admission to Leicester Royal Infirmary.

A jury heard two nurses, Theresa Taylor, 55, and Isabel Amaro, 47, carried out basic assessments after he arrived but did not flag him up as a high-risk patient.

Taylor, who was ward sister, did ask Dr Bawa-Garba at once to look at him.



The doctor, who had come back to work from maternity leave a month earlier, diagnosed he had gastroenteritis.

He was turning blue round the lips and suffering from very low oxygen levels which prosecutor Andrew Thomas QC said “should have rung alarm bells”.

Jurors were told the “remarkable” confusion over another child was the culmination in a string of blunders by staff that “robbed Jack of his chance of survival”.

The trio, who all worked on the Children’s Assessment Unit, all deny manslaughter by gross negligence following Jack’s death in February 2011.



Mr Thomas told the court the staff failed to recognise Jack’s condition, took no account of the fact he was struggling for oxygen and failed to see that he was already in shock.

He added: “Under their care Jack’s condition needlessly declined to a point where he was beyond the point of no return.

“The prosecution say their conduct was grossly negligent — truly, exceptionally bad, amounting to a criminal offence.”

Jack, who lived in Glen Parva, Leics, with parents Victor and Nicola and sister Ruby, had Down’s syndrome but was a “lively and energetic” boy who thrived in a mainstream school.



He was referred to the hospital by the family GP after falling ill at home the night before.

Jack’s mum told the court she became “hysterical” when he went into cardiac arrest. After he died she hugged the doctor — telling jurors: “At that time I thought she had looked after my son.”

The hearing continues.