Jax Jefferys: Five-year-old received 'appropriate' medical response at QA a day before dying of Strep A, inquest hears
A week-long inquest into the sudden death of a child who contracted Strep A continues
A medical expert has said the decisions made at a hospital the day before a five-year-old child died suddenly of Strep A sepsis were ‘appropriate’, an inquest has heard.
A jury at Winchester Coroner’s Court has today (June 11) heard a statement from medical expert, Dr Gregor Campbell-Hewson, as part of an inquest into the death of Jax Jefferys.
The schoolboy from Waterlooville, died on December 1, 2022 after being unwell in the days prior, with symptoms including a fever, coughing and lethargy. He was admitted to the emergency department at QA on November 30 following safety netting advice from his local GP after a visit on November 28.
While in the care of the emergency department, Jax was assessed by Dr Refat Parveen who consulted with Dr Marit Ohrndorf, paediatric consultant, with concerns over his high heart rate and respiratory rate.
Despite an initial diagnosis of tonsillitis, swabs later returned a positive result for Influenza A and a discussion with the child assessment unit (CAU) resulted in blood tests being taken.
Jax was allowed to be discharged on the agreement that if the blood results were alarming, he would return. In the early hours of December 1, the hospital rang his mum, Charlene McCormack to confirm he was showing signs of dehydration.
Dr Campbell-Hewson’s statement was read out in court. It said: “The diagnostic result of uncomplicated Influenza A was appropriate. Jax was observed for an extended period, he had appropriate investigations with reassuring results.
“Requesting blood tests was an appropriate response to the elevated heart rate in my opinion. The high heart rate recorded would not be seen as severe tachycardia.”
Dr Campbell-Hewson said Ms McCormack’s report of Jax condition was not “in line” with previous evidence, but if these symptoms were present it would “not be appropriate to discharge him”.
Dr Ohrndorf said: “If I would have at any stage thought that I was unhappy with Jax leaving or there was any other concern of what the condition was, I would have not have allowed him to leave the hospital.
“I formed the diagnosis of a flu-like illness in my head and looking at the information, it was in line with that working diagnosis.
“We decided to contact paediatrics for two reasons - I wanted to prolong the period of observations but mostly, at this stage, I wanted to see basic blood tests to confirm the diagnosis and see if these results were in line with our diagnosis of Influenza A.”
The court heard how on the evening of December 1, Jax complained of being unable to feel his legs. His parents rushed him to A&E but during the short trip, he became unresponsive, prompting his mum to perform CPR.
Upon arrival at the hospital, Dr David Patel, alongside a team of doctors and nurses, spent 90 minutes using life saving techniques, but Jax was pronounced dead just after 10pm.
A statement from paediatric pathologist, Samantha Holden, who conducted Jax’s post mortem was also read to the jury today (June 11).
She said: “Jax’s post mortem examination has identified the presence of invasive Group 1 Strep A (Group A Streptococcal (iGAS) which would account for his death.
The pathologist added that Strep A was detected in all samples taken.
The inquest has been adjourned.