Boy died from sepsis despite four visits to London hospital in a week, inquest hears

A four-year-old boy died from sepsis despite several visits to a hospital within a week, an inquest has heard.

Daniel Klosi was taken to the Royal Free Hospital in Camden, north London, four times in a week, including twice in one day. He died on 2 April 2023.

Poplar Coroner’s Court heard on Tuesday that hospital staff missed or made incomplete checks on the child in the days leading up to his death.

In a statement, his father Kastriot Klosi described Daniel, who had autism, as a “lively boy” with no other health issues.

Mr Klosi said he and the boy’s mother Lindita Alushi noticed their son was “wheezing and had a barking cough” on 26 March.

The court heard Daniel was diagnosed with crepitation of the lungs after being taken to the Royal Free emergency department.

Four days later on 30 March, they returned to hospital and a doctor and nurse insisted Daniel had picked up a virus, and sent him home to “rest”.

Daniel then “suddenly stopped eating and drinking” on 1 April, Mr Klosi said.

He said he and Ms Alushi called 111 and were booked in for triage at 1pm at the Royal Free, where they were told again the four-year-old had a virus.

“I was really concerned and I felt as if the doctor was fixated on telling me Daniel had a virus rather than finding out what the real problem was,” Mr Klosi added.

After Daniel was again discharged, the family went back at 4.30pm the same day and the boy started “deteriorating” in front of them, with his nose, hands and feet “turning purple” and his lips becoming cracked and blue.

He died early on 2 April.

A number of doctors and medical staff then told the court they had followed guidelines when treating Daniel, but admitted they should have asked for more observations and would have acted differently in hindsight.

Dr Shrabhi Agarwal, who first saw Daniel at around 3.30am on 31 March, told the court “all the [viral] swabs were negative and Daniel was feeling better” an hour after the tests.

The court heard the last set of medical observations of Daniel during the visit was at 4.30am, but he was not discharged until 8am. Dr Agarwal agreed it was “too long a gap” when asked by coroner Mary Hassell.

She also said “in hindsight, maybe we could have started him on antibiotics earlier” when asked if she would do anything differently.

Lucy Parker, who was Daniel’s triage nurse on 1 April, then said she could not carry out a full observation because of the boy’s “distress”.

She said that the “observations I did manage to obtain” showed “there were no immediate alarm bells ringing,” meaning Daniel’s heart rate and blood pressure were not recorded.

Dr Kavita Sumaria, a paediatric consultant who met Daniel and his father as she was finishing her morning shift on 1 April, also told the court she did not realise it was Daniel’s third visit to the hospital at the time.

The inquest will continue on Wednesday.