Wubi News

Baby's inquest finds neglect and serious failures after family's £250k battle

2024-12-07 05:00:14

A coroner has found neglect and failure to provide adequate medical care contributed to the preventable death of a baby.

Hayden Nguyen died aged six days at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in London in 2016.

The conclusion came after his parents spent seven years and £250,000 fighting for justice.

In a statement, the hospital said it was "committed to learning from any findings to improve our practices".

Hayden was six days old when he had a cardiac arrest

Senior Coroner Richard Travers said in his findings that Hayden had "obvious needs that were simply not met" by clinicians when his parents took him to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital in west London in August 2016.

They were concerned about a fever he had but his condition quickly deteriorated. He had a cardiac arrest and died within 12 hours of arriving at the hospital. The treatment Hayden received, Mr Travers found, fell "very seriously below expected standards" and had he received appropriate and timely care, he would have survived.

An internal investigation by the hospital following Hayden's death found there had been eight errors in the care he'd received, including failures to identify signs of septic shock and to act on abnormal test results.

However, the original inquest into Hayden's death, held at Westminster Coroner's Court in 2017, concluded he had died of natural causes.

The coroner, Dr Shirley Radcliffe, had contacted the hospital to raise concerns about their investigation.

The hospital produced a second report, which halved the number of errors found and said the root cause of Hayden's death was an infection "which is known to have a high mortality".

His parents were incensed by the coroner's actions and felt they had to act. "It is the second worst experience of my life," Hayden's father Tum Nguyen, 44, said of the first inquest.

"Having to live with the injustice and the dishonesty has been really difficult, which is why the fight for having a second inquest has not really been a choice for us."

Hayden Nguyen
Alex Nguyen with Hayden

Hayden's mother Alex, 48, who owns a software company, says other families may also be too immersed in grief to fight for answers.

"You are trying to deal with your grief, and when negligence is involved, that adds a whole extra layer that you then have to process. So for other families, it might not be possible financially, but also it might not be possible because of the grieving process."

The couple believe the legal steps they took will allow other families to argue that coroners need to put the bereaved family at the heart of every inquest, allowing Hayden's name to live on.

They also hope the second inquest will allow them to fully grieve the loss of their son. "The coroner has opened the possibility that we can put this to rest now," said Alex.

"Having an honest appraisal of what happened on the night [Hayden died] and seeing the majority of the medical team involved actually be accountable and admit their errors and show that they'd made learnings was quite healing."

Lesley Watts, chief executive for Chelsea and Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We are deeply sorry for the loss of baby Hayden and offer our condolences to his family during this time.

"We remain committed to learning from any findings to improve our practices and ensure the highest standards of care for every patient."