'Christmas will be devastating': Mum's plea after boy told he was 'milking it'
The mum of a little boy who died from Meningitis B claims paramedics ignored her concerns after he fell gravely ill.
Oliver Hall, 6, of Norfolk in England’s east, died on October 24, 2017, from the deadly disease despite efforts by his mother to alert doctors.
His parents are still grieving and upset about missed opportunities to save their young boy. Oliver’s mum, Georgie, claims doctors repeatedly failed to spot the symptoms of meningitis in the hours before her son died.
The boy’s parents called for an ambulance when he became sensitive to light and they noticed rashes on his body around midday.
The meningitis disease is often referred to as meningococcal in Australia. Meningitis is the inflammation of the membranes that surround and protect the brain and spinal cord while meningococcal refers to a type of bacteria that can cause meningitis.
"I was worried it was meningitis. I have paediatric first aid, as a parent you fear that more than anything because of how rapidly” it takes hold, Ms Hall said.
"I was now obviously really panicky and they said they will send an ambulance straight out to us."
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Paramedics arrived 25 minutes later and said they would take Oliver to his local GP as he started to struggle to breathe.
However Ms Hall told The Sun newspaper that paramedics claimed Oliver was “milking it”.
Doctors at the surgery also misread a mark on Oliver's left arm as a bruise despite her saying she told them it had only appeared that day, she said.
Oliver’s condition only worsened and hours later his parents rushed him to hospital.
Oliver suffered three cardiac arrests when doctors tried to take him off incubation to transfer him to a specialist paediatric centre. He died later in its intensive care unit at 2.07am from blood poisoning caused by meningitis.
"It's just changed our whole future, we've now got one child, we had two children, we had hopes for Oliver, for his future, he was a bright, popular lovely boy and our whole lives have changed," Ms Hall said.
"We just want there to be a change in the attitudes towards looking at parents and treating them with respect and taking their instincts as a red flag.
"We don't have a lot of choice but to carry on but [Christmas] it is going to be devastating because he loved Christmas. He was so excited, he kept asking before he died how many more days before Christmas.”
She said she’s “devastated” by Oliver’s death and her husband is “in absolute torment”.
The mum’s now calling on the Government to make the vaccine available for all age groups on the UK’s government’s National Health Scheme.
"It's shocking considering it's the biggest killer, infectious disease amongst young children and babies in the UK,” she said.
"It's disgusting really, we don't live in a third world country and yet children are dying from a disease that can be prevented for as little as £12 (A$22).
"I'm just disappointed that we didn't know we could have gone privately for the vaccine. There's a vaccine available, it's about £200 (A$376) but it saves the life of young children.”
MEGA
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