Premature baby killed by nurse’s accidental glucose overdose

October 30, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: News

A premature baby treated at Great Ormond Street Hospital died due to a nurse’s error according to testimony given to an inquest.

On Christmas Eve of 2008, Poppy Davies was brought into the world three months premature. Poppy was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital soon after birth to receive specialized care. However, a nurse with only three weeks of experience made critical errors that caused the baby to receive a fatal dose of glucose, killing the baby soon after.

Suffering from faulty lungs and heart, Poppy was considered a high-risk patient at the hospital. Yet the hospital assigned Nurse Rebecca Tite—attending an intensive care course at the hospital—to Poppy’s care.

The inquest, held at St. Pancras Coroner’s Court, heard testimony that on January 11, 2009, Mrs. Tite was advised to change the glucose machine attached to Poppy after another patient needed the bigger machine Poppy was using.

Mrs. Tite had to set up a smaller machine and was forced to change the concentration of the glucose solution due to a change in administration method. However, a control clamp was accidentally left open, and a three-way valve which controlled the flow of glucose was set up incorrectly.

The uncontrolled flow of glucose solution raise Poppy’s glucose levels to nearly 20 times what it should have been, causing massive, irreversible effects to her body. Doctors tried to save Poppy’s life by administering insulin to lower glucose levels, but Poppy died on February 1.

The parents of Poppy were also at the inquest. Poppy’s father David Daly said afterwards, “I know what happened. I don’t need all of this [the testimony] to tell me. I don’t know why a nurse with just three weeks experience was looking after Poppy.”

“It’s heartbreaking, but what can you do. You’ve just got to carry on fighting.”