Hospital bosses have refused to let the grieving father of a nine-year-old boy who died of sepsis help him identify a ‘mystery’ doctor who he says wrongly dismissed his symptoms as flu.
Dylan Cope died from a gross failure of basic care after he was discharged without a full review of concerns he may have been suffering from appendicitis, a coroner concluded last month.
Tragically the schoolboy died just over a week later of septic shock and multiple organ failure after his appendix burst, with an inquest hearing of multiple ‘individual errors’ by staff at the £350million Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran.
However it failed to establish the identity of a doctor who allegedly told Dylan’s father it was ‘highly unlikely’ that the youngster’s abdominal pains were connected to his appendix and said he had tested positive for flu.
Dylan Cope died from a gross failure of basic care after he was discharged without a full review of concerns he may have been suffering from appendicitis
Chiefs at the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran have refused grieving parents Laurence and Corinne’s plea to identify the doctor
Now Dylan’s grieving parents, Laurence and Corinne, are demanding to see photographs of a ‘shortlist’ of 11 candidates identified as potentially being the doctor in question in the hope he can answer critical questions over why the illness wasn’t diagnosed at A&E.
However chiefs at the state-of-the-art hospital – which opened its doors in 2020 – have refused the plea after speaking to the General Medical Council and the deputy chief medical officer for Wales.
In a letter they told the couple the pictures would be considered protected ‘data’, also citing a risk of ‘misidentification’, adding that all 11 have denied seeing Dylan that night.
Today they said it was a ‘massive disappointment’ that the hospital was refusing to accept his offer – and warned the mystery doctor could be putting other children at risk.
As CCTV from the unit was routinely wiped after four weeks, Dylan’s parents are now making a public appeal to anyone with information about the doctor’s identity.
‘We believe it is highly likely that someone knows who this unidentified “doctor” is,’ Mr Cope told MailOnline.
‘As a fellow compassionate human being and possibly even a parent themselves, we urge anyone with any knowledge to come forward.
In a letter the hospital told the couple the pictures would be considered protected ‘data’, also citing a risk of ‘misidentification’, adding that all 11 have denied seeing Dylan that night
they said it was a ‘massive disappointment’ that the hospital was refusing to accept his offer – and warned the mystery doctor could be putting other children at risk (pictured: The Grange University Hospital)
‘We also urge any member of the public who was at the hospital that night with their unwell child to get in contact with us if they have any information that may possibly help.
‘All we want is the full picture – who he was, what he was doing reviewing Dylan, his thinking behind his decision-making and what his learning and reflections are since Dylan’s death.
‘We are also concerned for future patients if he remains unidentified.’
Mr Cope took Dylan to A&E at the hospital in South Wales on December 6, 2022 from their home in Newport on the advice of the family GP who suspected his ‘excruciating’ pain was appendicitis.
But a note saying ‘query appendicitis’ was not picked up, with a coroner concluding last month that a paediatric nurse practitioner’s examination of the schoolboy was ‘inadequate’.
Giving evidence, the web designer said none of the medics identified themselves or gave their medical qualifications when they saw Dylan, but he assumed one was a surgeon.
Mr Cope said the ‘doctor’, who was in scrubs and a facemask, was tall with dark hair, a ‘slightly darker skin tone’, and ‘well-spoken’, possibly with a slight foreign accent.
The medic told Mr Cope it was ‘highly unlikely’ Dylan’s abdominal pains were connected to his appendix.
The inquest heard the unidentified doctor said Dylan had tested positive for Influenza A which was raging at the time.
The female doctor on duty did not carry out a review before Dylan was discharged, with his parents advised to give him painkillers
Dylan complained of severe pain on the left side of his abdomen – the appendix is on the right.
Meanwhile the female doctor on duty did not carry out a review before Dylan was discharged, with his parents advised to give him painkillers.
But four days later, Dylan’s condition deteriorated. After his parents made 19 attempts to get through on 111 he was readmitted to the Grange Hospital then transferred to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.
Surgeons removed his perforated appendix.
But tragically the schoolboy, who was looking forward to hitting ‘double digits’ on his 10th birthday, went into cardiac arrest and died when life support was withdrawn.
The couple have considered whether the ‘doctor’ was actually an imposter, but say he seemed familiar with Dylan’s symptoms.
‘We’ve offered the hospital our help to identify the mystery doctor but they’re not accepting it,’ Mr Cope said today.
‘A child has died, so this couldn’t be more important.
‘I’m not even asking them to give me their names, I just want to see anonymised photographs of them wearing face masks if I cannot see them in person, and ideally hear their voices.
‘I’m certain I’d be able to eliminate some of them as being the doctor who saw Dylan that night, and if he’s on the shortlist I’m hopeful that I’d be able to identify him.
‘So I just don’t understand why they won’t accept my help.
‘It’s a massive disappointment.’
His wife Corinne, a civil servant, added: ‘We have lots of unanswered questions which this doctor could answer.
‘Who asked him to see Dylan? What would he do differently if he was in that situation again?
‘He could still be working at a hospital, seeing children like Dylan.
‘So for the sake of other families he needs to give assurances that he’s learnt from the mistakes which were made that night.’
At the inquest, senior Gwent Coroner Caroline Saunders concluded there had been ‘a number of individual errors which resulted in Dylan being sent home from hospital when he should have remained’ when his father took him to A&E.
‘This amounted to a gross failure of basic care,’ she added.
In response, Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, which runs the hospital, admitted ‘full responsibility’ for Dylan’s death following ‘organisational system failure’, and apologised.
It now retains CCTV for ‘as long as required’.
Mr and Mrs Cope, who have two older children, are now campaigning to raise awareness of appendicitis and the symptoms of sepsis, urging parents: ‘Trust your instincts over anything else and seek urgent help.’
A spokesperson for the health board said: ‘We are devastated at what happened to Dylan and our deepest sympathies continue to be with his parents and his whole family.
‘We are aware of the ongoing distress being experienced by the family due to us having not been able to identify the doctor who spoke with Dylan’s father.
‘Following a formal clinical assessment, a doctor would usually make an entry into the medical record of a patient.
‘This was not done in this case and therefore we have no record in the notes to enable us to identify this individual
senior coroner concluded there had been ‘a number of individual errors which resulted in Dylan being sent home from hospital when he should have remained’ when his father took him to A&E (pictured: Newport Coroners’ Court)
‘We have considered every possible option to address their concerns and carried out a thorough investigation.
‘We also took advice from the GMC and Deputy Chief Medical Officer to ensure we explored all the options available to us as an organisation to identify the individual the family are seeking.
‘We have spoken openly and transparently with Dylan’s family and we explained that we have undertaken all possible actions to address their concerns.
‘This issue was discussed during Dylan’s inquest and the Coroner did not request that we undertake any further investigation beyond the actions already taken.’