Consultant denies ordering unlawful tissue sample collection from baby - inquest
Dr Peter Davis said he did not himself take any tissue samples from two-month-old Ben Condon.
A hospital consultant has denied he ordered the unlawful collection of tissue samples from a recently deceased baby and suggested nursing staff could be responsible, an inquest heard.
Dr Peter Davis said he did not himself take any tissue samples from two-month-old Ben Condon or ask anyone else to do so.
Ben died in the paediatric intensive care unit of Bristol Children's Hospital on April 17 2015, six days after being admitted there with a respiratory illness.
His death was initially recorded as being caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), metapneumovirus (hMPV) and prematurity, Avon Coroner's Court heard.
But it was later discovered that following Ben's death he also had a pseudomonas bacterial infection, which had been a contributory factor.
Dr Davis was asked questions about how samples had been collected on April 18 or 19 from the site of Ben's peritoneal catheter.
Post-mortem sampling is regulated and the collection of samples without the correct consent is potentially unlawful and assistant coroner Robert Sowersby gave Dr Davis a warning before he answered about giving potentially incriminating evidence.
On Tuesday, Dr Matthew Christopherson, a colleague of Dr Davis, had also denied having any knowledge of the samples.
Dr Davis was asked how the sample could have been collected, and he said he did not know, but explained that on the unit nurses often took samples and later asked a doctor to write up a request to microbiology.
"On the unit samples are taken by the nursing staff by what they see and ask someone to write up afterwards," Dr Davis said.
"Nurses would take the swab off their own volition and then ask someone to write up the request to microbiology."
An inquest in June 2016 initially recorded Ben's death as being caused by ARDS, hMPV and prematurity.
But the following year, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust admitted a failure to give Ben timely antibiotics for the secondary bacterial infection had contributed to his death.
High Court judges quashed the original inquest conclusion in 2021 and ordered a fresh hearing following campaigning by Ben's parents Allyn and Jenny Condon.
Dr Davis told the inquest he had taken over care of Ben after he suffered his first cardiac arrest on the afternoon of his death.
"I don't recall any discussion about secondary bacterial infection," he told the court.
"He was absolutely consistent with a child who had ARDS, then an air leak into the pericardium and then a cardiac arrest.
"It was clear there was a distinct likelihood that he wouldn't survive this episode. I would do everything I possibly could to keep him alive."
After Ben's death, Dr Davis said he followed up on earlier blood culture tests because he noticed the boy had disseminated intravascular coagulation, which can be caused by a secondary infection or a cardiac arrest.
He also wrote a death certificate giving Ben's death as ARDS, hMPV and prematurity after a discussion with Dr Christopherson.
"We were aware that the unit was very busy, this was a Friday night and this was probably one of the few opportunities where two of us who had been involved during that period would have an opportunity to talk and go through what had happened," he said.
"We felt that we had a cause of death that we agreed upon and therefore felt that it was appropriate to write a death certificate at that time."
Earlier, the inquest heard evidence from Dr Paul Mannix, who had treated Ben at Southmead Hospital following his premature birth.
Dr Mannix and other doctors had several meetings with the Condon family following Ben's death.
Asked about those meetings, Dr Mannix said: "I did say that if the baby had been on the neonatal intensive care unit, where we do things differently, the baby would have had a further course of antibiotics.
"But again, I make the distinction between what I do as a neonatologist and what my colleagues at the children's hospital do in terms of paediatric intensivists."
Dr Mannix was asked about comments he made to Dr Margrid Schindler, who carried out an investigation into Ben's death, about the use of antibiotics.
"I did say to Margrid that the parents have got a point," he said.
"And if someone said, 'If the baby gets worse we'll start antibiotics'... I am a little puzzled to why that hasn't happened.
"Equally, I recognise that they do things differently. I recognise there is a professional difference in judgment."
The hearing continues.