Heartbroken mum Melanie Harding wants answers as to why the many doctors she saw over her baby’s breathing issues didn’t give her adequate help, with some just sending the pair back home.
NZME reports baby Riley Drever was just four months old when he died at home from bronchial pneumonia and respiratory arrest in October 2015.
Over the course of her son’s short life, Harding claims she visited eight different GPs, totaling 16 visits, with the last just three days before Riley’s death.
She claims only one referred the baby to Waikato Hospital for suspected laryngomalacia, a condition which can result in obstruction of the airways.
Harding told NZME she didn’t feel the doctors she saw were listening to her concerns.
“We don’t want an apology because that won’t bring Riley back. We want people to be accountable.”
The tragic death of baby Riley has devastated Harding who is now seeking answers as to why the health system failed her young son. The heartbroken mother has also lodged an ACC claim for treatment injury over Riley’s death.
A report to ACC by retired pediatrician Peter Jankowitz in August last year backs up Harding’s claims that doctors failed to recognise the degree to which Riley’s airways were compromised when he was admitted to Waikato Hospital.
“Had this been recognised, then steps could have been taken to significantly reduced the progression of the laryngomalacia.”
In her interview with NZME, Harding tells of how she had gone to the emergency department of Waikato Hospital October 3, with her mother who was a nurse, to admit Riley for laryngomalacia.
She explains Riley spent two days in a ward but was discharged against Harding and her partner, Nick Drever’s wishes, despite the baby’s falling oxygen levels, with a follow up referral for an echocardiogram.
In the two days after the discharge she took her son back to a GP and said he was prescribed Losec, a medication usually used to treat reflux in infants, and sent home.
Despite more GP visits that month, baby Riley would die from respiratory arrest, secondary to congential laryngomalacia, and also bronchial pneumonia.
The family has laid complaints with the Hamilton District Council, as well as seeking answers from Waikato Hospital.
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