Hospital prescribes lethal dose to baby (From The Argus)

Hospital prescribes lethal dose to baby

11:59pm Friday 11th January 2008

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A hospital fighting to save its maternity unit from NHS cutbacks has made an apology after bungling medics told a mum to give her baby a lethal dose of medicine.

Aeryn Robertson, who is four months old but weighs just 11lb, needs regular medication to control her milk allergy - but mum Samantha was instructed to give her nearly eight times the correct dose by staff at cash-strapped Worthing Hospital.

If the error hadn't been spotted by sharp-eyed Samantha and dad Andrew, tiny Aeryn would have suffered a heart attack and died from the overdose.

Sales executive Samantha, 22, has now hit internet forums urging other new mums to double-check all medication online before giving it to their children.

She said: "You assume you can trust your doctor and pharmacist. You wouldn't normally think to check what they're saying is correct. But if we hadn't, our daughter would be in the mortuary.

"We knew something wasn't right with the medication as soon as we got home from hospital, because the dosing syringe the pharmacy had given us was huge.

"On the bottle, the hospital pharmacist had written we needed to give her 3ml three times a day - but we distinctly remembered the consultant saying it should be just 0.4ml.

"According to the internet, if we had given her just one of the doses prescribed, her heart rate would have increased dramatically. If we'd given her a whole day's dosage, she would either have had a heart attack or suffocated to death.

"It chills my blood just to think about it. I would never forgive myself if I didn't tell other mums about my experience, and another baby died because of an incompetent hospital pharmacy."

Baby Aeryn was born healthy, but didn't put on enough weight in the weeks after her birth - gaining just 1lb a month when she should have been putting on about 1lb a week.

Samantha and Andrew took her to Worthing Hospital where doctors failed to diagnose the problem. It was only after Samantha admitted herself and Aeryn to Guy's Hospital in London that the tot's lactose intolerance was recognised.

Back at Worthing Hospital, the family were told the waiting list to see a dietician was six months and Aeryn was prescribed Ranitidine to aid her digestion and help her gain weight.

Andrew, 22, formerly a factory worker and now a home-dad for Aeryn and the couple's 17-month-old son Malakai, said: "Worthing Hospital is a joke. They put our daughter's health at risk and could have killed her.

"They're fighting to save their maternity unit, but it's really not worth saving, and the pharmacy is dispensing lethal doses of medication - which is downright dangerous.

"I shudder to think what might have happened if we hadn't been quite so on the ball."

A spokesman for Worthing and Southlands Hospitals NHS Trust said the Robertsons' complaint is being treated "extremely seriously".

He added: "We apologise to the couple for any distress caused. The trust has a rigourous double-checking system in place to ensure the correct prescriptions are given to patients at all times.

"We dispense over 60,000 prescriptions each year and will be carrying out a thorough investigation to find out what happened in this case. We will report our findings to the family."

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