Islingotn Tribune - News: Docs cleared of teen tagedy

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Islington Tribune - by PAUL KEILTHY
Published: 18 May 2007

Docs cleared of teen tragedy

Boy died hours after hospital release

DOCTORS have been cleared of any misjudgement after a schoolboy died during an asthma attack hours after being sent home from hospital.
Shadi El-Bhnasawy, 15, from Gifford Street in Barnsbury, was rushed to the Whittington hospital with asthma in the afternoon of December 5 last year but was discharged at his request five hours later when doctors judged that the flow of air into his lungs was acceptable.
Shortly after midnight, he was declared dead at University College hospital after a paramedic team had tried desperately to save him as he lay on the patio of his parents’ home following a further acute attack.
The teenager’s father, Mohamed El-Bhnasawy, made headlines in March when he criticised the care his son had received.
The retired vet told St Pancras Coroner’s Court yesterday (Thursday) that he was surprised when his son was released from the Whittington hospital at 9.45pm and he was still wheezy when they arrived home at 10pm.
Describing the moment when the second, fatal asthma attack struck, he said: “He asked for something to eat… then he went to his room and suddenly he started coughing loudly. He said ‘I can’t breathe at all’ and his face turned blue. We went into the back garden, he said ‘I’m feeling weak, I’m feeling weak, I’m feeling weak’.”
The emergency medics and ambulance crew that rushed to the El-Bhnasawy house told the court that they had to deal with a seriously ill boy in the dark garden as neighbours and relatives gathered round.
Despite ventilators and attempts at resuscitation, their efforts to carry the “tall, well-built” boy through the house were hampered by furniture and the absence of a carry-sheet from the response ambulance.
Shadi El-Bhnasawy was rushed to University College Hospital but could not be saved.
Coroner Dr Andrew Reid questioned the doctors who had seen Shadi El-Bhnasawy at the Whittington hospital, where he was treated with standard steroids and oxygen for his afternoon attack. After a series of observations of peak flow- a measurement of the capacity of the lungs – the decision to allow the teenager home was taken by Paediatric Consultant Dr Aubrey Cunnington.
He said that all the test results were acceptable. He said: “He looked well, he looked comfortable, he certainly looked very stable. He certainly didn’t look sick. I decided it would be safe for him to go home- he was adamant that because he felt so much better he was fine to go home.”
After hearing Pathologist Dr Alison Winstanley confirm that death had been caused by a build up of mucus in the airways that allowed air in but none out, Coroner Dr Reid concluded that both the doctors at the Whittington and the ambulance service staff had acted properly. He said: I am satisfied that at all times there has been a response by medical services to the clinical situation. There is no evidence that there has been a gross lack of medical attention at any time.”
Verdict: death by natural causes.

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