Four-day old baby succumbed to sepsis. Midwives were slow and the doctor administered paracetamol, instead of antibiotics. The case was referred to the coroner.
Harvey Nicholson, who died of hypoxia (oxygen starvation), was diagnosed after suffering sepsis in August 2019, shortly after his birth.
His parents, Sonia Brice (HRI), gave birth to him on August 23rd. He later moved to Glenfield Hospital in Leicester to receive specialist care. Unfortunately, he died shortly after.
Harvey Nicholson succumbed to hypoxia (oxygen deprivation), which occurred after Harvey Nicholson was born at Hull Royal Infirmary in August 2019. (pictured).
Inquest at Hull Coroners Court this month revealed that HRI’s Midwife Team failed to respond quickly to the patient’s sepsis and that a subsequent paediatric inspection failed to recognize his symptoms.
Harvey was prescribed paracetamol by doctors when it should have been antibiotics.
Harvey was not receiving adequate treatment from the HRI staff, which led to several failures being identified by the coroner.
Sonia was not reported by staff as having suffered UTIs and GBS during pregnancy.
The inquest found that doctors refused to give Harvey antibiotics. Harvey’s sepsis was also not detected by his midwife.
Hull Royal Infirmary, where he was born on August 23, 2003 to Sonia Brice (pictured), and James Nicholson later transferred him to Glenfield Hospital at Leicester for more specialist care. It is here that he tragically died.
According to Coroner Lorraine Harris, Harvey would have been given broad-spectrum antibiotics if all information had been gathered correctly. This was a likely outcome.
“There was not a risk assessment nor a screening for neonatal sepsis. A delay of one hour after birth could have affected the outcome.
Harvey’s blood infection combined with his likely exposure to meconium (newborn urine) in labour led to severe hypoxia. His brain and liver became oxygen deficient, according to the report.
Ms Harris said that her husband’s death had been caused by neglect.
Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust spokesperson said, “We deeply regret the mistakes that we made in causing Harvey’s death.” Harvey would have survived if the proper procedure had been followed, we accept.
“We apologize to Harvey’s loved ones and offer our sincere condolences to Harvey’s families.
We are not able to speak on the matter of Harvey’s passing without a court order.
“But, we’d like to highlight our evidence to this inquest that our procedures have undergone significant modifications to ensure we don’t make similar mistakes again.”