Department of Health and Matilda International Hospital investigating after newborn girl, passed healthy to be taken home despite sores according to parents, is found to have bacterial infection
JEANETTE.WANG@SCMP.COM
UPDATED : Tuesday, 24 May, 2016, 11:22pm
Martin Newell and Ayesha de Kretser with baby Lulu Violet, now fully recovered after a week on an antibiotic drip in Hong Kong Adventist Hospital. Photo: Martin Newell
Hong Kong’s Department of Health is investigating a couple’s claim their newborn baby was discharged from a private hospital with a serious infection that could have caused the death of the baby girl.
Days after the girl’s discharge from the Matilda International Hospital, doctors at another hospital detected a Staphylococcus aureus bacterial infection in her bloodstream.
The baby girl, Lulu Violet de Kretser-Newell, is now fully recovered after spending a week on an intravenous antibiotic drip in Hong Kong Adventist Hospital.
Lulu was delivered by caesarean section at the Matilda on May 7 by private obstetrician Dr Lucy Lord of Central Health Medical Practice in Duddell Street, Central. Her parents, Martin Newell and Ayesha de Kretser, very worried that other patients, including newborn babies, at the Matilda could have been exposed to the bacteria, called the hospital to notify them of Lulu’s infection.
“If there was some kind of infection spreading we just wanted to make them aware of it, so they would follow hygiene procedures to protect other families from going through what we’d been through,” Newell said yesterday.
De Kretser said the Matilda’s deputy general manager Rajwinder Kaur “flatly denied they had any bacterial infections in the hospital”.
Lynne Fung, executive director of business development at Matilda, told the South China Morning Post yesterday the hospital had begun a thorough investigation after De Kretser contacted them on May 18 and it was working closely with the Department of Health on the matter.
Lulu’s infected umbilical cord stump at six days old. Her parents rushed her to Adventist Hospital on the advice of a doctor in Australia. Photo: Martin Newell
When she was two days old, De Kretser said, Lulu had three blisters around the stump of her umbilical cord and a very red, inflamed fingertip. By the time Lulu was discharged from the Matilda, the blisters had developed into pustules 5 to 10 millimetres across, she said. Newell claims his daughter was not swabbed to test for infection, but passed healthy by Central Health paediatrician Dr Carmen Tam and allowed home. The couple live in Mid-Levels West.
De Kretser said Kaur “refused to accept [Lulu] had the sores when she left” the hospital on The Peak.
By the time Lulu was six days old, the three pus-filled sacs were as big as 50-cent coins, the parents said. They took Lulu to Central Health, where paediatrician Dr Yvonne Ou diagnosed her as having impetigo, a highly contagious bacterial skin infection most common among preschool children. Ou prescribed oral antibiotics and told them to return two days later.
The Matilda International Hospital on The Peak.
De Kretser couldn’t wait and sent pictures of Lulu’s sores to her paediatrician in Australia, who advised her to take the baby to hospital immediately. They took Lulu to Adventist Hospital.
Asked about the case last night, Lord said: “I can confirm that at all times our paediatricians gave appropriate care for Lulu.”
She said she had suggested De Kretser appoint a specialist of her choice, either an infectious disease expert or paediatrician, to review all the evidence relating to the care of Lulu. Central Health would fund the cost of this investigation, Lord said.
Fung said the hospital had proposed to meet Newell and De Kretser later this week.
While the investigation continues, the case has already created a stir on social media. De Kretser shared details of Lulu’s case on popular Facebook group Hong Kong Moms, which has over 22,750 members. Her two posts attracted more than 100 comments, many from women who have delivered babies at the Matilda or are planning to do so.
Regardless of where or how the bacteria was contracted, De Kretser said, “we cannot understand why the hospital does not want to take additional precautions. Nor can we understand why Central Health thinks its paediatricians have done nothing wrong.”
A Department of Health spokesman said its Code of Practice for Private Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Maternity Homes requires private hospitals to have an infection control team to deal with infections acquired or brought into the establishment and to monitor the incidence and trends of infections among patients and staff as well as infection control activities. The code also requires private hospitals to have in place written policies, procedures and guidance for the prevention and control of infection.
According to the department’s records, the Matilda has not reported any infectious disease outbreaks in the past five years.
De Kretser was admitted to the Matilda on April 28 for suspected appendicitis but discharged a day later, before being readmitted on May 7. She and Lulu left the hospital on May 11.
Fung said an independent microbiologist had concluded that between April 27 and May 11 there was one unrelated case of sepsis at the hospital.
Fung said the Matilda had strict procedures in place for infection control. “The overall hospital infection rate has had a downward trend from an already low rate of 0.96 per cent per 1,000 bed days in 2012 to 0.49 per cent per 1,000 bed days in 2015,” she said.
Staphylococcus aureus is a bacteria carried by many healthy people on their skin and in their noses. When the skin is punctured or broken, Staphylococcus bacteria can enter the wound and cause infections, which can lead to other health problems. Staphylococcus infections can be prevented by regular hand washing and by keeping wounds clean and covered.
http://m.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/1953389/hong-kong-private-hospital-sent-baby-home-potentially-fatal
