Tragic Toddler Death Exposes Shocking Healthcare Failings: “I Begged Doctors to Save My Daughter’s Life, But They Ignored Me”
- A grieving mother’s desperate pleas to save her three-year-old daughter’s life were ignored by doctors, a coroner has found.
- Dio Kemp, who had Down syndrome, died from sepsis in 2019 after being sent home from hospital multiple times with a “virus or fever”.
- A coroner has slammed the “insufficient” medical care provided to Dio, saying better investigation of her symptoms could have “potentially” saved her life.
Miranda Jowett watched in horror as her toddler daughter Dio died in front of her, just days after pleading with doctors to save the three-year-old’s life.
“I will never forget the desperate attempts to resuscitate her tiny body,” Jowett said, tears streaming down her face.
Jowett took her daughter to Melbourne’s Monash Medical Centre four times and twice to a family GP, but was repeatedly told that Dio had a virus or fever and should be given pain medication and sent home to wait for the fever to break.
But Jowett knew something was seriously wrong. “Parents know when their child is gravely ill,” she said. “I urge doctors to set aside assumptions and truly listen to parents.”
A coroner has now found that better medical investigation of Dio’s symptoms by doctors and clinicians in the three days before she died could have “potentially” saved her life.
Victorian Deputy State Coroner Paresa Spanos slammed the “insufficient” medical care provided to Dio, saying a GP and two Monash clinicians did not provide sufficient care to the toddler and her mother.
Spanos said an emergency department clinician and a rapid review clinic clinician at the hospital failed to consider the possibility of a bacterial infection and did not comply with Monash Health guidelines.
The coroner’s findings have sparked outrage, with Jowett’s lawyer Samuel Pearce saying the case highlights the importance of clinicians listening to parental concerns.
“We welcome the findings from the coroner, and we welcome the changes that have been implemented since Dio’s death,” Pearce said. “But we urge that those changes be accompanied by rigorous training and cultural change to ensure that this does not happen to another family.”
Dio’s uncle Paul Oliver also spoke out, saying Monash Health needed to listen to parents. “Unless the culture within pediatric emergency medicine starts to change at Monash, more children will die,” he said.
A Monash Health spokesperson said it would review the coroner’s findings and consider “any learnings or recommendations to ensure our patients receive the best care possible”.