The mother of a five-month-old girl who died in hospital has told a jury that mistakes made by doctors during her care were “unforgivable”.
Lynsey Carr told an inquest into the death of Esta High how her growing concerns were “dismissed multiple times” over a 15-hour period, with doctors thinking her symptoms were due to Covid.
Wakefield Coroner’s Court heard how Esta was a “happy, healthy, smiling girl” before she became ill on 31 October 2023.
Carr told the inquest jury on Thursday how Esta’s condition deteriorated at Leeds General Infirmary, but her and Esta’s father Leon High’s concerns were not listened to.
Her parents took her to the hospital’s emergency department due to a high temperature and vomiting, and she later tested positive for Covid.
Carr said the family, from Leeds, was put in a side room at the hospital’s children’s assessment and treatment (CAT) unit where she believed staff were more concerned with isolating Esta due to the Covid risk.
Carr said she and High refused advice from doctors to take Esta home as she had a temperature that reached more than 40 degrees and she would not stop vomiting.
She said her daughter later developed a rash and her arm started shaking, which she feared was a seizure.
Carr told the jury “we were extremely worried” and “we kept asking for help”, but “staff were rude and don’t listen to our concerns”.
She said her daughter’s symptoms should have been seen as a high risk of sepsis.
If the correct treatment had been started at this stage, she said “the damage to Esta’s brain could have been limited, reduced or not happened at all”.
