An eight-year-old girl has died of sepsis after being sent home by her GP because her local hospital was full.
Mia Glynn visited GP practices twice within four hours but doctors told her parents Solon, 39, and Katie, 37, to take her home, despite her showing symptoms of group A streptococcus infection.
Her parents, who live in Biddulph, Staffordshire, first took Mia to the doctor on December 5, 2022, after she began vomiting and complained of a severe headache and sore throat.
On the morning of December 8th, Mia’s parents took her to the clinic because she had a fever and a severe headache.
The nurse told the mother that Mia’s symptoms were viral and advised her to give her daughter fluids and paracetamol.
However, Mia returned to the clinic just after midday and was examined by a GP before being sent home.
Despite asking whether Mia had group A strep infection, which was common at the time, the doctor gave her mother fluids and ibuprofen and advised her to wait until Mia had gone to bed before giving her antibiotics.
They were told to take their daughter home because the hospital was full and they would have to wait in the hallway.
Mia slept in her parents’ bed that night, but woke up in the early hours of December 9th feeling disoriented, with blue lips and a rash on her arms and legs.
She complained of being hot, but was cold to the touch.
After being taken to hospital by ambulance, Mia was given intravenous fluids and antibiotics, but was diagnosed with suspected septic shock and went into cardiac arrest around 15 minutes after arriving at the hospital.
Despite resuscitation efforts, she died about 20 minutes later.
Mia’s cause of death was determined to be sepsis due to group A streptococcal infection.
Following Mia’s death, her parents, who also have a 12-year-old son, Beau, asked a specialist medical malpractice lawyer to investigate her treatment and get answers.
Speaking publicly for the first time since Mia’s death, her mother Katie said: “Our world and hearts are shattered forever when our beautiful daughter was taken from us.
“Mia was taken to the doctor twice and was told her symptoms were viral. About 15 hours later she died of sepsis.”
“The incredible and excruciating pain we are feeling is indescribable and unimaginable.
“Our beautiful and healthy baby girl was the happiest, smartest, most loving and most caring girl anyone could imagine, who smiled and danced and brought joy and love to everyone she met.
“She brought a lot of laughter and fun.”
Since her death, her family and supporters have raised more than £40,000 in her memory through fundraising efforts.
The family have donated more than £16,000 to the British Sepsis Foundation and set up a charity called “aiM” (an anagram of Mia’s name) in their daughter’s memory.
Mia’s mother added: “We will never get over the loss of Mia, especially when we lose her in this way.”
“Our family will never be the same without Mia. She had a life ahead of her, and it has been taken away from her in the most brutal way imaginable.”
Mia’s father, an engineering teacher, said: “Watching her final moments was difficult.”
“We are so blessed to have had her as our daughter and are heartbroken that Mia was taken from us so soon.
“Many people may have heard of sepsis but it wasn’t until what happened to Mia that we realised just how dangerous it can be.”
“We need to educate the public and health professionals to recognise the signs of sepsis and ask themselves: ‘Could I have sepsis?'” he added.
Victoria Zinzan, a medical malpractice lawyer representing the couple, said: “Sadly, through our work we have seen too many families suffering from sepsis and Mia’s death highlights in stark detail the dangers of this disease.”
“Early diagnosis and treatment are key to overcoming sepsis, so it’s important that people know what signs to look out for when spotting this extremely dangerous and life-threatening disease.”
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