Consultant in charge of toddler who died after emergency operation 'had no experience' of procedure, inquest hears
By
Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 12:58 PM on 10th October 2008
Indya Trevelyan died after a tracheotomy tube became lodged in her throat. Consultant Arthur Hooper, who was put in charge of the toddler, today admitted he had no experience of the complicated procedure
A consultant admitted having no experience in carrying out complicated surgery after being left in charge of a toddler who died when an emergency operation went wrong, an inquest heard today.
Tiny Indya Trevelyan stopped breathing after a tracheotomy tube became lodged in her throat during the operation at the Royal Alexandra Children's Hospital in Brighton, East Sussex.
The 20-month-old, who had been admitted to hospital with the common childhood respiratory infection croup, died after surgeons could not remove the tube.
When asked by Brighton coroner Arthur Hooper if he had any experience of the procedure, anaesthetist consultant David Campbell replied 'none at all'.
Campbell also revealed to the court he did not know what stitches used to fasten down the tube were for.
Campbell told the hearing: 'It is something I have been kicking myself over for the last six months, that I did not know what the sutures (stitches) were there for.
'It is something that is on the periphery of an anaesthetic's knowledge.
'None of my colleagues had ever heard of them.'
The court had earlier heard consultant surgeons Simon Watts and Tony McGilligan decided to carry out an emergency tracheotomy after Indya started having troubling breathing.
Campbell was left in charge after Watts and McGilligan had finished the surgery but the breathing tube became dislodged whenever Indya coughed or moved.
When Campbell tried to reinsert it he ripped out the stitches.
The tragic tot's parents Sian, 37, and Nigel, 43, from Crawley, West Sussex, were originally told the operation had been a success before staff informed them their daughter was being resuscitated.
Grieving mother: Pregnant Sian Trevelyan had to be helped into the court clutching Indya's favourite toy
Indya died the following day when she suffered a cardio-respiratory arrest after being transferred to London's Evelina Children's Hospital.
An interim report from Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals blamed poor communication between the consultants for Indya's death.
The report, read out in court, said: 'We would suggest Indya's preventable death arose out of false assumptions and weak communication.
'We have not found evidence that these assumptions and the way the plan was communicated was any worse than the norm, but that the norm was not good enough to keep Indya safe.'
Indya's distraught parents Sian and Nigel were in court to hear the damning report.
Sian is pregnant with the couple's second child.
Speaking after the first day of the inquest in August, Sian described her daughter's treatment as 'appalling'.
Croup is an infection of the voice box and the airway to the lungs. It is characterised by a seal-like, barking cough.
It affects young children aged between six months and three years.
The inquest continues.
[Edit note: The Mail had incorrectly named the Consultant ENT surgeon as James McGilligan, this has been corrected to Tony McGilligan above ]
