- Jack Adcock went to Leicester Royal Infirmary with diarrhea and vomiting
- Treated by Doctor Hadiza Bawa-Garba and nurse Isabel Amaro in Leicester
- Dr Bawa-Garba didn't realise Jack went into septic shock and he collapsed
- She didn't resuscitate him as she got him confused with another patient
- Dr Bawa-Garba and nurse Amaro found guilty of gross negligence today
The grieving parents of a six-year-old boy who died due to negligent care said that 'life is now empty' after the doctor and nurse responsible were convicted of manslaughter.
Doctor Hadiza Bawa-Garba and nurse Isabel Amaro were both found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence for failures that led to the death of Jack Adcock at Leicester Royal Infirmary.
The doctor had decided not to resuscitate the boy, who had Down's Syndrome, because she got him confused with a patient she saw earlier in the day who had a 'no not resuscitate' order on them.
After the verdict, his mother Nicola said: 'Our life now is empty, painful and will never be the same again.'
Dr Bawa-Garba (left) was convicted of manslaughter due to gross negligence after failing to resuscitate Jack Adcock (right) because she got him confused with someone she dealt with earlier in the day
'We have always believed that someone needed to be held accountable for what happened to our son. The guilty verdicts will bring us some closure but the void that has been left in our lives will remain.'
Dr Bawa-Garba and nurse Amarov were accused of 'truly, exceptionally bad' treatment of the boy, who originally came to the hospital with diarrhea and vomiting and then suffered sepsis due to an infection.
He then suffered septic shock but Dr Bawa-Garba stopped CPR because she mistakenly believed there were instructions not to resuscitate him.
A junior doctor picked up the mistake a minute later but by then it was too late and he later died.
The prosecution claimed Jack, a youngster with Down's Syndrome and a heart condition, was 'robbed' of his chance of survival by the medical team at the hospital.
Doctor Hadiza Bawa-Garba (left) and nurse Isabel Amaro (right) were both found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence for failures that led to the death of Jack Adcock at Leicester Infirmary
A jury of six men and six women took five days to find Dr Bawa-Garba, 38, of Leicester, guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence by a majority verdict of 10-2.
Nurse Amaro, 47, of Manchester, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence on Monday after three days of deliberations at Nottingham Crown Court.
Another nurse, Theresa Taylor, who was also involved with Jack's care at the Leicester Royal Infirmary, was cleared of the same charge after nearly 25 hours of deliberations.
During the three-week trial, the prosecution said Jack, of Glen Parva, Leicester, died after a series of failings by medical staff, including Bawa-Garba's 'failure to discharge her duty'.
Prosecutor Andrew Thomas QC said: 'In short, she neglected her duty to care for Jack.
'It was not just a momentary lapse. The prosecution say that Jack's care was neglected over a protracted period of time: her failings were compounded by a failure to go back and reassess Jack despite clear indications that his underlying condition was continuing.
'These were not just simple breaches of duty, but really serious breaches amounting to gross negligence.'
The court has heard that Jack, who lived with his parents Victor and Nicola, and younger sister Ruby, had suffered from a number of health problems, including a hole in the heart, for which he took daily medication.
Despite a 'tricky start' he was a 'lively and energetic' boy who was 'thriving', attending a mainstream primary school where he was receiving one-on-one support.
But Jack fell ill with diarrhoea, sickness and breathlessness the evening before he was admitted to hospital on February 8 2011.
Bawa-Garba failed to recognise that Jack was suffering from septic shock and when he collapsed, she stopped life-saving treatment because she thought he was under a 'do not resuscitate' order.
The error was picked up by a junior doctor after CPR was stopped for around a minute.
Nottingham Crown Court heard that Bawa-Garba had confused Jack for another patient she had treated earlier in the day, which prosecutor Mr Thomas described as a 'remarkable error'.
He accepted the break in resuscitation would not have any effect as Jack was already past the 'point of no return'.
But he added: 'The relevance is that it shows that she had simply not given Jack sufficient attention during the day, to the point that she did not even recognise who he was'.
She also missed 'seriously abnormal' blood test results that showed Jack's organs were shutting down, the court heard.
And other blunders included waiting four hours to act on the results of a chest X-ray, and failing to reassess the youngster or mention any concerns to a senior consultant when she handed his care over.
The court also heard Amaro accepted she breached her duty of care but has denied that any of her failings significantly contributed to the youngster's death.
Mr Thomas said her record keeping was 'woefully incomplete' and failed to monitor Jack's vital signs.
He said: 'The prosecution say that these were major failings which contributed significantly to the overall deficiencies in Jack's care.
'If nurse Amaro had brought any of these to the attention of her senior nursing and medical colleagues, this should have led to urgent reassessment and initiation of further treatment to improve Jack's condition. It was a needless death.'
During the four-week trial, the court heard evidence from Jack's mother Nicola who said she was 'hysterical' after her son collapsed with his lips turning blue.
'He was just lying there. It looked like he was fast asleep,' she said.
Bawa-Garba and Amaro will be sentenced at a later date.
We cannot bring Jack back and under the circumstances saying sorry does not seem enough
Andrew Furlong, Leicester NHS Trust
After the verdict, Ms Adcock paid an emotional tribute to her son on the steps of Nottingham Crown Court, saying he was 'one in a million'.
She said: 'Our son Jack was a lively and energetic little boy.
The room lit up when he walked in with his cheeky smile and his cheeky ways.
He drew people to him like a magnet.
'To say that we miss him does not do justice to our strength of feeling - Jack was an amazing son and one in a million.'
Andrew Furlong, interim medical director and children's orthopaedic surgeon at the University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, said improvements had been made since Jack died.
He added: 'We cannot bring Jack back and under the circumstances saying sorry does not seem enough.
Nevertheless, we are deeply sorry and would like to again send our condolences to the Adcock family.'
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