A THREE-DAY-OLD premature baby who died after catching an E.coli infection from his mother could have been saved by a dose of antibiotics – if medical staff had spotted it sooner.
Logan Baker was born at Broomfield Hospital by Caesarean section on Thursday, January 30, and doctors sent him home to Marlborough Road, Braintree, two days later, unaware that the bug was poisoning his blood.
He was taken ill the next day and, despite being rushed back to hospital, died at 1.36pm of pulmonary haemorrhages and neo-natal sepsis caused by the bacterial infection.
At an inquest into his death at Chelmsford County Hall on Thursday (July 31), area coroner for Essex Eleanor McGann heard that a number of clinical failings contributed to Logan's death.
Irene Scheimberg, a consultant perinatal paediatric pathologist at the Royal London who conducted the post-mortem examination, told the hearing: "There are several risk factors for neo-natal sepsis, not just that he was premature, but because his mother had a urinary tract infection strand of E.coli when Logan was born.
"It's like he acquired the disease around the time of birth because there were ruptured membranes and it can get through the birth canal and a baby's immune system is not very well developed.
"The mother should be given antibiotics and kept longer in hospital to be monitored, but it's hard to know for sure as the symptoms are very non-specific."
The inquest heard the right questions were not asked by nurses when Logan's mother Samantha called William Julien Courtauld Hospital, in Braintree, for advice as his condition deteriorated.
Christine Berner, a specialist midwife for risk management and a supervisor of midwives at Broomfield Hospital, investigated the death.
She said: "Two red flags were that Logan was described as crying inconsolably and constantly vomiting throughout."
Since the death of baby Logan, both Broomfield and William Julien Courtauld Hospitals have made a number of changes to procedure.
Any unwell mother and baby should now be transferred to a consultant-led unit and seen by a paediatrician, changes in the way handover notes are recorded have been made so that more information about a patient is passed between doctors and nurses when their shifts begin, and prompt cards have also been placed near hospital phones so the correct questions are asked during queries.
Mrs McGann was told the hospital accepted all the failings made in the report by Mrs Berner.
Recording a narrative verdict, Mrs McGann said: "There was a failure to identify the indication of sepsis and so he did not receive antibiotics at birth or later.
"This has been a very sad time for Mr and Mrs Baker and I'm sure you have been through some very hard times since the beginning of the year."
A spokesman for Mid-Essex Hospital Trust said: "The trust would like to take this opportunity to express its sincere condolences to Logan's family.
"Despite seeming well at birth his condition deteriorated on the morning of Monday, February 3, and he was readmitted to the hospital suffering from neonatal sepsis.
"Although every effort was made to save him he did not improve and sadly died later that day.
"The inquest into his death has now been held and the trust will reflect and act upon the coroner's findings and those of its own extensive review of the treatment provided to Logan.
"Once again, the trust offers its heartfelt condolences to Logan's family for his loss."
