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A five-year-old British boy died of chickenpox just a fortnight after doctors sent him home from hospital, telling his parents to give him Calpol, the Daily Telegraph reports.
Fabio Nunes fell ill in early February. By February 14 he was too weak to move, and his mother took him to East Surrey Hospital. His mother, Anna, said that he was barely conscious but doctors prescribed him antibiotics and told Fabio’s parents to give him the paracetamol containing syrup Calpol.
Fabio’s father Ricardo, said: “When my wife got to the front desk, the woman said it was the worst case of chickenpox she’d ever seen. But the doctors said he was fine and okay to come home.
“They didn’t even check him over, or test his blood or anything. I strongly believe if they’d just checked him over properly he would be alive today.”
After the boy’s condition worstened, he was admitted back to hospital, and transferred to the specialist clinic Evelina Children’s Hospital at Guy’s and St Thomas’ in London, but he died on 1 March of liver and kidney failure.
The coroner reporting on the boy’s death said he had had a catastrophic reaction to chickenpox.
East Surrey Hospital has begun an investigation.
Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust
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“Yes of course it was preventable, the lazy NHS again … why on earth didn’t they do some blood tests?” – Helen Burchell, Scotland, UK
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