Mother tells of murder arrest after hospital missed infection in son, 3

Alfie Podmore could have survived if antibiotics had been prescribed at Birmingham children’s hospital, inquest told A mother was held on suspicion of murder when her three-year-old son died three days after being released from hospital suffering from an infection that developed into pneumonia. Alfie Podmore, from Quinton, Birmingham, would probably have survived had he been given antibiotics, an inquest has heard. His 21-year-old mother, Abby Podmore, was arrested and held in a police station for 24 hours and was not able to see her son’s body for 10 days. The inquest heard Alfie had not been seen within the one-hour target time at Birmingham children’s hospital where he was taken on 3 February. A report from the hospital said Alfie had not been not showing many of the typical signs of pneumonia. But the hospital later said it could have done more to help him. The hearing at Birmingham coroner’s court heard how Alfie complained to doctors of a pain in his shoulder, and the hospital admitted it was unusual for a child of his age to be able to identify a specific area of the body where there was pain. No blood tests were carried out. The Birmingham coroner, Adrian Cotter, said: “Alfie definitely had an infection, it may have shown up on an x-ray or with a blood test but we don’t know if it would have done because those things were not done.” In a statement to the inquest, Abby Podmore, a dental nurse, said her “horrifying” arrest had robbed her of the chance to grieve for her son. Alfie had been taken ill while at nursery on 2 February. The following day, he was taken to hospital but was discharged after staff failed to diagnose a developing infection on his lung. He died at home on 6 February after developing septicaemia. Telling how she tried in vain to revive her son when she found him on the morning of 6 February, Podmore said: “I knew he was not breathing so I started to give him CPR [cardiopulmonary resuscitation].” An ambulance then arrived, the inquest heard, but police asked her to leave the house and change out of her clothes. Podmore said: “I found it distressing because I wanted to be with his body. I was in a state of shock and didn’t know what was going on.” Two riot vans and a total of 15 police officers then arrived and her partner was also detained. “I couldn’t believe what was happening – I felt like I was being treated like a criminal,” she added. Neighbours had looked on as Podmore and her partner were arrested, “I remained in a police station for 24 hours,” she said. “Looking back, I feel I have been robbed of the chance to say goodbye to Alfie.” In a statement released in July, West Midlands police said it had launched an internal investigation into the arrest. Dr Phillip Cox, a consultant paediatric pathologist, told the inquest that Alfie had about a pint of fluid on his chest and that if he had been given antibiotics he probably would have lived. A postmortem found he died from natural causes. The inquest continues. Birmingham NHS Police Health Children Helen Carter guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 29, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.