Industry & Reform
Industry & Reform
Canberra Hospital where the incident occurred . Photo : NCA
‘ It was too late ’
Rozalia Spadafora inquest : mistakes and miscommunication in 5 year old ’ s death
By Arshmah Jamal
The ACT Coroner ’ s Court inquest has found a lack of communication and preventable mistakes among Canberra Hospital ’ s staff led to a delay in her diagnosis and , ultimately , Rozalia ’ s death .
The five-year-old is believed to have died of myocarditis brought on by influenza A in July last year – a day after her fifth birthday .
She was taken to the hospital ’ s emergency department on the advice of a GP who had been treating her .
But Rozalia ’ s mother and grandmother said they waited for hours despite her deteriorating condition and weren ’ t taken seriously after nurses gave Rozalia water , Hydralyte , and Panadol .
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“ Please take mothers seriously when we come in there with our children ,” Rozalia ’ s mother told A Current Affair last year .
Rozalia underwent a number of tests and shifted multiple times around the hospital . A decision was made to transport her to Sydney for specialist treatment , but she died from cardiac arrest – 28 hours after her admission .
Rozalia ’ s mother said they were kept in the dark until it was too late .
“ We lost our daughter at Canberra Hospital . No one helped her until it was too late . No one told us what was happening before it was too late ,” she said in a statement .
“ My family has no answers , and we are broken .”
“ This was an entirely avoidable incident with consequences that will now last a lifetime .”
Dr Tze Hoa Wong , who was the first doctor to treat Rozalia , told the inquest he wasn ’ t particularly surprised she waited for five hours in the ED despite being triaged as category three – an urgent patient who should have been seen within 30 to 45 minutes .
That night , Dr Wong was the only paediatric emergency doctor responsible for six beds and two consultation rooms within the ED .
However , he agreed with the coroner when asked if he could have been called to another more urgent patient .
Evidence by Dr Wong appeared to reveal poor communication between the paediatric and ED
Dr Callum Jarvis , a children ’ s doctor from another hospital , told the coronial inquest he was concerned Rozalia needed more help than what was available at the current paediatric ward .
“ We had a very unwell child that was likely to need further treatment ,