The death of a little boy who died despite seeing six doctors over four days could have been prevented, a coroner has ruled.
Two-year-old Lachlan Black died in August 2014 after being unwell for a number of days with a high fever, septicaemia and high heart rate.
The Melbourne toddler’s parents, Angela and Tim Black, were wrongly told by doctors their little boy was suffering from ‘a virus’, The Age reported.
Two-year-old Lachlan Black’s (pictured) death in August 2014 could have been prevented
The two-year-old (pictured) died in after being unwell for a number of days with a high fever, septicaemia and high heart rate
Parents Angela and Tim Black (pictured) were wrongly told by doctors their little boy was suffering ‘a virus’
Coroner Rosemary Carlin choked back tears as she announced her findings that Lachlan’s death was caused by human error.
Ms Carlin said the two-year-old would have survived if he was given the ‘appropriate care from the outset’, according to the publication.
‘They appear to have been caused by a combination of human errors and failures of the system to prevent or counteract human errors,’ she said.
Lachlan was rushed to the emergency department at Monash Medical Centre on August 17, 2014, after twice saying he felt cold and refusing to walk.
He later saw two different doctors before he was again rushed back to emergency for his final, fatal visit. He had earlier been to the emergency room twice and seen two other GPs.
It reportedly took more than ten hours for doctors to give the two-year-old antibiotics where he later died after 30 minutes of CPR on August 18.
Coroner Rosemary Carlin (pictured centre) emotionally announced her findings that Lachlan’s death was caused by human error
Lachlan died at Monash Medical Centre despite seeing six doctors over a number of days
Ms Carlin said the two-year-old (pictured) would have survived if he was given the ‘appropriate care from the outset’
‘They appear to have been caused by a combination of human errors and failures of the system to prevent or counteract human errors,’ Ms Carlin said
Ms Black (left) said last month her son ‘died a third-world death in a first-world country’
The coroner found medical teams failed to reassess the toddler’s condition after a rash appeared and his heart rate increased, the publication reported.
Talking to Seven News in November, the young parents believed that had antibiotics been prescribed to Lachlan sooner, he would have survived.
‘He died a third-world death in a first-world country,’ Mrs Black told the network.
‘He suffered in hospital and we had to see that, he shouldn’t have had to go through that and we have to live with that for the rest of our lives.’
Monash Health director of emergency medicine Dr Neil Goldie apologised to the heartbroken family.
‘Since 2014 we have made a number of changes to our clinical care processes, to reduce the likelihood that this kind of tragedy could occur again,’ he said according to News Corp.
Monash Health director of emergency medicine Dr Neil Goldie apologised to the young family
Mr Goldie said changes were made to reduce likelihood of a similar tragedy happening again