Boy who died of sepsis had infection 'everywhere'

Dylan Cope was first taken to hospital on 6 December 2022 and he died eight days later

A nine-year-old boy who died from sepsis had infection “everywhere” when he was operated on, an inquest heard.

Dylan Cope, from Newport, was taken to the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran in December 2022 with suspected appendicitis, but he was later discharged with flu, the inquest heard.

When his condition did not improve, Dylan was readmitted to the Grange Hospital, where he was then transferred to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Gwent Coroners' Court heard Dylan died on 14 December 2022 from septic shock caused by a perforated appendix.

Dylan's parents say he was "such a unique character, and a lovely brand of feisty and sensitive"

Dr Kandaswarmy, the consultant paediatrician when Dylan was readmitted to the Grange Hospital, said he had a call telling him, “a child is very poorly”.

He added that Dylan had abdomen pain, a distended tummy and rashes on his legs.

“He did look very unwell, he looked pale in colour,” he said.

Dr Kandaswarmy explained the Grange Hospital did not have a paediatric intensive care unit, so the decision was made for a “time critical transfer” to the University Hospital of Wales.

The court heard Dylan arrived in the resuscitation room in the University Hospital of Wales at 19:15.

Mr Ma’in Masarweh, a consultant paediatric surgeon in the hospital said Dylan looked “really sick” and was “showing signs of septic shock”.

He said it was affecting all of Dylan’s organs and that he required surgery as soon as possible.

He said Dylan went into surgery at 21:40 and said he discovered Dylan had a perforated appendix.

“Unfortunately the infection was everywhere,” he said.

Mr Masarweh said he removed the appendix and removed the contamination from Dylan’s body.

When asked how long Dylan may have been suffering from appendicitis, he said the complications start between 3-5 days after the beginning of the symptoms but said you could not definitively “say when”.

The court was told the infection affected organs in Dylan’s body and his condition continued to deteriorate over the following days.

The inquest heard Dylan’s parents were told his death “was inevitable”.

The court has heard the medial cause of death was septic shock, with multi-organ disfunction caused by a perforated appendix.

The inquest continues.