The death of a nine-year-old girl who fell from a swing and suffered a perforated bowel and peritonitis was preventable, and there were “serious failures” in the care she received, a coronial inquest has been told.
Leila Baartse-Harkin died from internal injuries that went undiagnosed two days after falling from a swing at her school in Strathalbyn in October 2015.
Her parents took her to the Women’s and Children’s Hospital — on advice and referral from the Strathalbyn Hospital, as she had a high heart rate, complained of abdominal pain and had been vomiting.
She was discharged less than two hours later with no injuries recorded on her discharge letter other than a fractured wrist.
Leila continued to vomit and complain of abdominal pain and was taken to a general practitioner in Strathalbyn and prescribed analgesia, but died the next morning.
Outside the Coroner’s Court, Leila’s mother Edie Harkin said she now felt her only daughter’s death was preventable.
“My belief is that it was preventable. I now feel I have a full understanding of what went wrong,” she said.
“I think it will lead to some changes in the way SA Health deals with patients and consumers in general.”
Leila had perforated bowel while at hospital.
Counsel assisting the coroner Naomi Kereru told the inquest in her closing submissions that Leila did have the perforated bowel when she presented at the Women’s and Children’s hospital and it should have been identified.
“I ask Your Honour to make the finding that Leila’s death was preventable,” she told the inquest.
“Leila should not have been allowed to go home in the early hours of that morning, she had presented with a picture of a serious injury and the cause of this had not been identified.
“If Your Honour accepts this submission and also finds that Leila should have been admitted for observation based on these factors … surgical advice would have been sought, a CT scan would have been done and an operation would have ensued to repair the hole in the bowel.”