Came across this news article and am shocked that in ths day and age that type 1 is not being diagnosed! a simple urine/blood test could have saved this child's life!
Same age as when aaron was diagnosed.
UK Children still dying from undiagnosed diabetes!!!
Shocking isn't it! One asks oneself whether all the concentration on the
rise
of type 2 diabetes overshadows the fact that type 1 diabetes is the third
most
common chronic disease in childhood after asthma and cerebral palsy.
Undiagnosed diabetes can cause death and all for the want of one of the
most
simple tests. What other life threatening diseases can be diagnosed in
minutes
and treatment started almost immediately. I wonder if DUK/JDRF UKCWD
needs to
do more about making hospitals and GPs fully aware of the increase of
diabetes
in the under 5's. Shocking that this child was seen by several medical
professionals and no one did a blood test. Unbelievable and tragic.
"Reece's life 'could have been saved'"
THE life of a Derby toddler who died from diabetes could have been saved
if he
had not been sent home from hospital, an inquest has been told.
Reece Sharp died at his Alvaston home on December 18, 24 hours after
leaving
Derbyshire Children's Hospital. His mother Charlotte Smith had desperately
tried
to resuscitate him.
The two-year-old had been suffering from a mystery illness for five days
but had
not been tested for diabetes, despite being assessed by a GP, by a nurse
from
Derbyshire Health United, Derby's out-of-hours doctors service, over the
phone
and by medics at the hospital.
A postmortem examination revealed he had been suffering from undiagnosed
diabetes, a condition that affects about 17 out of every 100,000 children
and
can be controlled with medication.
At an inquest into his death, Julie Mott, a paediatric registrar from the
hospital, said she examined Reece after he was brought in by his worried
parents, Darren Sharp and Miss Smith, on December 17.
He had been referred to hospital by Dr Mohammed Hussain at Parkfield
Surgery, in
London Road, Alvaston, who noticed that Reece had lost weight, he was
lethargic,
and that his abdomen was soft.
Coroner Dr Robert Hunter asked Dr Hussain that when he referred Reece to
the
hospital was it his expectation that Reece would be admitted, and Dr
Hussain
said yes.
Ms Mott, in a statement to the inquest, said she looked at Reece's notes
before
examining him.
In the statement, she said: "I had considered diabetes, but it was not top
of my
concerns at that time."
She said she had intended to weigh Reece, and when she was questioned by
the
coroner as to why she later didn't, she said: "I forgot."
Ms Mott, when she saw Reece, found his chest was clear and that he was
alert and
responding. She also said his throat was red and slightly enlarged,
although she
did find his abdomen was soft.
When asked how difficult it would have been to make a diagnosis of
diabetes, she
said: "We could have made a diagnosis of it. We could have done tests."
Ms Mott was also asked if she considered testing for diabetes. She
replied: "In
retrospect, we should have done but it did not appear to be indicated."
Dr Elizabeth Adamson, a consultant community paediatrician from Derby City
Primary Care Trust, investigated the circumstances of Reece's death.
During the
inquest she was asked whether or not Reece's life could have been saved if
he
had been admitted to hospital instead of being sent home.
She answered: "Yes".
Dr Adamson also said that diabetes testing was simple. She said: "It's a
matter
of two very simple tests - either urine or blood."
Mr Sharp told the inquest that over the course of a few days from December
12,
Reece had become ill.
He said: "Every time I used to come home from work he would be waiting for
me at
the top of the stairs, but he wasn't."
Mr Sharp told the inquest that he called Derbyshire Health United, an
out-of-hours medical advice service, after his son had taken a turn for
the
worse one night.
The 28-year-old described his son's symptoms to the call-handler. "I rang
direct
from my dad's house and they asked to speak to whoever was with Reece at
the
time.
"I gave them Charlotte's number and by the time I got home they had rung
Charlotte.
"They said it sounded like a viral infection," he said.
Lyn Charlesworth, a nurse advisor from Derbyshire Health United, answered
Mr
Sharp's call after it was transferred to her by a call-handler at the
organisation.
In a statement to the court, Ms Charlesworth said that her job was to
perform a
telephone assessment of symptoms by asking a range of questions that were
generated by a computer system.
In a transcript from the conversation between her and Miss Smith, she
described
Reece's symptoms as normal. She said: "The sort of things you are
describing are
all fairly normal symptoms in babies or toddlers who have got an
infection, a
viral infection."
The inquest heard that information that Mr Sharp had passed on to the
original
call-handler was not passed on to Ms Charlesworth.
When asked if she should have been given the information, Ms Charlesworth
said:
"With hindsight, yes."
A day after being discharged from hospital, Reece stopped breathing while
watching TV in his home in Thorndike Avenue.
Miss Smith, 23, said: "I noticed that his chest wasn't rising. I phoned
the
ambulance and they told me to lay him on the floor and give him
mouth-to-mouth."
Pathologist Dr Hohammed Al-Adnani carried out Reece's postmortem
examination and
told the inquest that the cause of death was undiagnosed diabetes.
The inquest is continuing.
Same age as when aaron was diagnosed.
UK Children still dying from undiagnosed diabetes!!!
Shocking isn't it! One asks oneself whether all the concentration on the
rise
of type 2 diabetes overshadows the fact that type 1 diabetes is the third
most
common chronic disease in childhood after asthma and cerebral palsy.
Undiagnosed diabetes can cause death and all for the want of one of the
most
simple tests. What other life threatening diseases can be diagnosed in
minutes
and treatment started almost immediately. I wonder if DUK/JDRF UKCWD
needs to
do more about making hospitals and GPs fully aware of the increase of
diabetes
in the under 5's. Shocking that this child was seen by several medical
professionals and no one did a blood test. Unbelievable and tragic.
"Reece's life 'could have been saved'"
THE life of a Derby toddler who died from diabetes could have been saved
if he
had not been sent home from hospital, an inquest has been told.
Reece Sharp died at his Alvaston home on December 18, 24 hours after
leaving
Derbyshire Children's Hospital. His mother Charlotte Smith had desperately
tried
to resuscitate him.
The two-year-old had been suffering from a mystery illness for five days
but had
not been tested for diabetes, despite being assessed by a GP, by a nurse
from
Derbyshire Health United, Derby's out-of-hours doctors service, over the
phone
and by medics at the hospital.
A postmortem examination revealed he had been suffering from undiagnosed
diabetes, a condition that affects about 17 out of every 100,000 children
and
can be controlled with medication.
At an inquest into his death, Julie Mott, a paediatric registrar from the
hospital, said she examined Reece after he was brought in by his worried
parents, Darren Sharp and Miss Smith, on December 17.
He had been referred to hospital by Dr Mohammed Hussain at Parkfield
Surgery, in
London Road, Alvaston, who noticed that Reece had lost weight, he was
lethargic,
and that his abdomen was soft.
Coroner Dr Robert Hunter asked Dr Hussain that when he referred Reece to
the
hospital was it his expectation that Reece would be admitted, and Dr
Hussain
said yes.
Ms Mott, in a statement to the inquest, said she looked at Reece's notes
before
examining him.
In the statement, she said: "I had considered diabetes, but it was not top
of my
concerns at that time."
She said she had intended to weigh Reece, and when she was questioned by
the
coroner as to why she later didn't, she said: "I forgot."
Ms Mott, when she saw Reece, found his chest was clear and that he was
alert and
responding. She also said his throat was red and slightly enlarged,
although she
did find his abdomen was soft.
When asked how difficult it would have been to make a diagnosis of
diabetes, she
said: "We could have made a diagnosis of it. We could have done tests."
Ms Mott was also asked if she considered testing for diabetes. She
replied: "In
retrospect, we should have done but it did not appear to be indicated."
Dr Elizabeth Adamson, a consultant community paediatrician from Derby City
Primary Care Trust, investigated the circumstances of Reece's death.
During the
inquest she was asked whether or not Reece's life could have been saved if
he
had been admitted to hospital instead of being sent home.
She answered: "Yes".
Dr Adamson also said that diabetes testing was simple. She said: "It's a
matter
of two very simple tests - either urine or blood."
Mr Sharp told the inquest that over the course of a few days from December
12,
Reece had become ill.
He said: "Every time I used to come home from work he would be waiting for
me at
the top of the stairs, but he wasn't."
Mr Sharp told the inquest that he called Derbyshire Health United, an
out-of-hours medical advice service, after his son had taken a turn for
the
worse one night.
The 28-year-old described his son's symptoms to the call-handler. "I rang
direct
from my dad's house and they asked to speak to whoever was with Reece at
the
time.
"I gave them Charlotte's number and by the time I got home they had rung
Charlotte.
"They said it sounded like a viral infection," he said.
Lyn Charlesworth, a nurse advisor from Derbyshire Health United, answered
Mr
Sharp's call after it was transferred to her by a call-handler at the
organisation.
In a statement to the court, Ms Charlesworth said that her job was to
perform a
telephone assessment of symptoms by asking a range of questions that were
generated by a computer system.
In a transcript from the conversation between her and Miss Smith, she
described
Reece's symptoms as normal. She said: "The sort of things you are
describing are
all fairly normal symptoms in babies or toddlers who have got an
infection, a
viral infection."
The inquest heard that information that Mr Sharp had passed on to the
original
call-handler was not passed on to Ms Charlesworth.
When asked if she should have been given the information, Ms Charlesworth
said:
"With hindsight, yes."
A day after being discharged from hospital, Reece stopped breathing while
watching TV in his home in Thorndike Avenue.
Miss Smith, 23, said: "I noticed that his chest wasn't rising. I phoned
the
ambulance and they told me to lay him on the floor and give him
mouth-to-mouth."
Pathologist Dr Hohammed Al-Adnani carried out Reece's postmortem
examination and
told the inquest that the cause of death was undiagnosed diabetes.
The inquest is continuing.