A hospital trust in England is facing prosecution over the deaths of two young girls, including three-year-old Nigerian Zadie Ajetunmobi, following alleged failures in their treatment for sepsis.
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, which operates Broomfield Hospital in Essex, faces three charges brought by the Care Quality Commission under the Health and Social Care Act. Court documents allege that care and treatment provided to the children were not delivered safely. The trust is expected to enter pleas at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on December 3.
Zadie was taken to the hospital on November 10, 2022, with a temperature of 40 degrees Celsius. She suffered a cardiac arrest and died less than 10 hours after arriving.
An inquest into her death heard that she waited more than seven hours for intravenous antibiotics, which could have been lifesaving.
Senior Coroner Lincoln Brookes concluded that her death would likely have been prevented if hospital staff had followed the appropriate sepsis treatment pathway immediately. The family was also informed that local sepsis guidance had not been updated in line with national recommendations since 2017.
Her parents, Theo and Rhiannon, expressed profound grief over the loss of their daughter, describing the tragedy as one from which they would never recover. They said they hoped the findings would help prevent other families from experiencing similar heartbreak.
The second child, two-year-old Selina Samarina, was taken to Broomfield Hospital on April 7, 2024, with fever, a rash and irritability. She was discharged but returned two days later and died that day.
Selina had Down’s syndrome. An inquest concluded that she died from sepsis and pneumonia, with Down’s syndrome and an upper respiratory tract infection listed as contributory factors.
The inquest heard that the sepsis protocol had been triggered during her initial hospital visit, but a suitably senior doctor was unavailable for about two and a half hours. A junior doctor discharged her before her condition was adequately addressed.
The cases have renewed concerns about the early recognition and treatment of sepsis, a life-threatening reaction to infection that can rapidly damage organs and cause death if not treated promptly.
The Care Quality Commission has powers to prosecute healthcare providers where it believes legally actionable failures in safe care have occurred. The outcome of the proceedings will determine the trust’s criminal liability.
The trust said it was working closely with investigators but declined to comment further because legal proceedings are ongoing.
For both families, the court case comes after years of grief. Their hope is that the circumstances surrounding the deaths will be fully examined and that lessons will be learned to protect other children.
