Parents’ pleas ignored: How a Perth hospital failed their daughter
The parents grieving for their daughter who died while waiting to see a doctor at a Perth hospital are accusing “rude” staff of ignoring their pleas for help.
Aishwarya Aswath, seven, was rushed to Perth Children’s Hospital on Easter Sunday after she came down with a fever that was worsening.
Waiting for up to two hours in the emergency room to see a doctor, the girl’s eyes turned cloudy, her hands went cold, and she became rigid.
Parents Aswath Chavittupara and Prasitha Sasidharan begged staff to have a doctor look at their daughter multiple times but claim their worries were pushed aside.
When a doctor finally came to see Aishwarya it was too late, with the young girl passing away just 15 minutes later.
An internal report investigating her death found she had succumbed to an infection related to a group A streptococcus.
Western Australian Health Minister Roger Cook conceded she and the family didn’t receive the appropriate level of care on the night they were in the hospital.
But the report found no individual was responsible for the lack of care and that staffing shortages weren’t a factor in her death.
Aishwarya’s death follows months of concerns regarding understaffing and delayed treatments across Perth’s hospitals.
When she was taken to hospital, the girl was placed in the second-least urgent category.
But even when it was clear to her parents that their daughter was rapidly deteriorating, they claimed their calls for help were mostly ignored.
“I think some of the staff were ignoring us … they didn’t even pass on the message to their superiors so they could decide,” Mr Chavittupara said.
Mr Chavittupara and Ms Sasidharan said the report raised more questions than answers and are now pushing for an independent inquiry into their daughter’s death and other incidents.
“We didn’t get the answers that we were looking for,” Mr Chavittupara told reporters on Thursday, May 13.
“We knew they would only look at some of the areas and ignore the rest. That’s why we’ve been pushing for an external inquiry.”
Though Aishwarya’s parents have questioned whether their ethnicity was a factor in how they were treated, Mr Cook downplayed any race-related concerns.
Among the 11 recommendations presented in the Child and Adolescent Health Services was a review of the awareness of culturally and linguistically diverse communities among staff, while other recommendations included a pathway for parents to raise their concerns to staff and a second independent inquiry into the hospital’s emergency department.
Mr Cook apologised to the family on behalf of the Western Australian government.
“I wish to apologise unreservedly for this failure and for the heartbreak and devastation Aishwarya’s death has caused her family and community,” he said.
“On behalf of the McGowan Government, Child and Adolescent Health Services, and all the health community, I say to Aishwarya’s family - I am sorry.”
Mr Chavittupara said an apology was “not good enough” and that the system should be changed to prevent similar events from happening again.
“We lost our child,” Ms Sasidharan said.
“This shouldn’t happen to anybody else.”
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