Removal of Ayrshire teen's breathing tube 'wasn't right'
- Published
Amy Allan died at Great Ormond Street Hospital last year
A senior doctor has said the decision to remove a breathing tube from a teenager who died after a back operation "wasn't right".
During an inquest into the death of Amy Allan, Dr Samiran Ray said the removal of the ventilation tube had caused severe physiological problems.
The 14-year-old died from complications following surgery at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
Her family, from Dalry, Ayrshire, blame the hospital for her death.
Amy was born with a genetic condition called Noonan Syndrome, which caused a number of health problems throughout her life.
Her spine started to curve due to scoliosis as she grew and it was clear she needed surgery to reduce her pain and prevent it getting worse.
Amy also had a lifelong heart problem which made the surgery more complicated.
It was decided that her operation should take place at Great Ormond Street where there was a specialised life support system known as ECMO.
'Clinically inappropriate'
Dr Ray, a consultant paediatrician, was head of the hospital's intensive care unit on the day she had an operation on her spine.
However Dr Ray told the inquest at St Pancras Coroner's Court that the first he'd seen a reference to the ECMO system was at 03:00, hours after Amy's condition had deteriorated.
A junior doctor had extubated Amy - removed her ventilation tube - shortly after 23:00, and she rapidly declined.
Dr Ray told the court: "In hindsight, it clearly wasn't right to extubate."
It comes after an expert witness told the court that the decision to extubate Amy was "clinically inappropriate" and had "materially contributed to her death".
The court also heard that when Dr Ray contacted the cardiac unit, they had no idea Amy was in the hospital, despite four pre-operative visits where her care was discussed in detail.
The ECMO team was assembled at 04:00 but did not begin to work on Amy until 07:15 because they are not routinely available at all hours.
Dr Rohit Saxena, a cardiac intensive care consultant, told the inquest: "I should have been told about Amy and the need for ECMO support."
He also told the inquest that there was no guarantee that Amy would have survived had she been put on the machine earlier.
Hospital mistakes
He said that around a third of children put on an ECMO machine died while on the system and half of patients died before leaving hospital, according to international literature.
Amy's parents say mistakes by Great Ormond Street, in particular by extubating her too quickly and failing to have the ECMO system in place, contributed to their daughter's death.
The hospital have previously told the family that the extubation was appropriate and that Amy's condition was so severe that the ECMO system would not have prevented her death.
The inquest continues.
- Published2 September 2019
