The treatment of a critically ill boy and his parents at Wollongong Hospital’s emergency department last week will undergo an independent review.
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Three-year-old Warrawong boy Hamza Said was sent home from the ED in the early hours of December 5, after being misdiagnosed with a virus when he had life-threatening sepsis.
When his parents Sheima Morsi and Amro Said returned to the ED that evening, their son went into septic shock and his vital organs started shutting down.
He was placed on life support and airlifted to Randwick children’s hospital, where he’s slowly recovering.
‘’If we didn’t go back to the hospital that night he would have died,’’ Ms Morsi said.
On Monday, Labor’s health spokesman Walt Secord called on Health Minister Jillian Skinner to launch an independent review into the incident.
Dr Vivek Nigam, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District’s executive director medical services, confirmed an independent investigation was underway on Tuesday.
“The Clinical Excellence Commission will co-ordinate the investigation and include experts specialising in emergency care and paediatrics,’’ he said, in a letter to the Mercury.
“We have (on Tuesday) morning advised the family of the process and will continue to liaise directly with them.’’
Dr Nigam said the hospital’s focus now was to work with the commission as they undertook the review.
“The hospital absolutely agrees that answers from this review are the key to ensuring we identify the gaps and how to best develop solutions to prevent this from occurring again,’’ he said.
‘’… We will then work through the areas of concern and take on board the lessons learned from this most difficult situation.’’
