Mum criticises hospital staff at inquest following little girl's death in Cornwall
Six-year-old Coco Rose Bradford died from sepsis back in 2017
Last updated 29th Nov 2021
Hospital staff in Cornwall who failed to spot a six-year-old girl’s chronic sepsis were “dismissive, rude and arrogant”, the child’s mother told an inquest.
Coco Rose Bradford, who had autism, died on July 31st 2017 having been admitted to Treliske with vomiting and diarrhoea on July 25th.
Coco’s family have campaigned for her death to be fully investigated and an independent review published in September 2018 found hospital staff missed multiple opportunities to treat her.
The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust admitted failings and apologised unreservedly.
At an inquest sitting at Truro, Coco’s mother, Rachel Bradford, told the court that staff had repeatedly brushed off her concerns that her daughter’s condition was deteriorating.
Mrs Bradford said she was concerned that after Coco was first admitted on July 25th, basic tests such as a stool sample were not taken, and she was discharged within a matter of hours.
She was readmitted within 24 hours and her condition steadily deteriorated, but her family say medics treating her refused to take her condition seriously.
Mrs Bradford said: “Every time we asked a question, (the staff) thought we were overreacting.”
She said they were treated with “an air of nonchalance” even when they raised fears over dehydration and the fact Coco was retching almost constantly.
“Questions were brushed off and not directly answered,” Mrs Bradford said.
The court heard that staff at Treliske had delayed transferring Coco to the regional specialist children’s hospital in Bristol, even though a bed had been made available.
Mrs Bradford said she had repeatedly tried to tell the doctors and nursing staff that Coco was in pain, but her pain score was always recorded as “zero” in her medical notes.
She said staff were “dismissive, rude and arrogant” towards her, saying that Coco, who had very limited speech due to her autism, had been labelled “uncooperative and non-compliant”.
Mrs Bradford said this arose when staff had finally given her daughter morphine and Coco had flinched in pain because the injection was administered too fast.
“For the record, she was nothing of the sort, she got distressed and upset because they were hurting her,” she said.
By the time she was transferred to a specialist paediatric intensive care ward in Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, blood tests showed Coco had “overwhelming sepsis”.
Mrs Bradford said Coco’s death has had “a devastating effect on us and changed the course of our lives for ever”.
She continued: “We will never recover from losing the most precious, little person from our family.”
“(Coco) was my absolute world and living without her is almost too much to bear.”
She criticised staff for calling Coco uncooperative, saying: “She was in a terrible amount of pain and dying in front of our eyes.”
“We have been treated with utmost contempt. Why? Because we questioned healthcare professionals from Treliske – I use the term professionals loosely,” Mrs Bradford said.
The inquest, which is expected to last up to two weeks, continues.