The parents of a 10-month-old baby who died on holiday in Portugal have said their lives have been destroyed.
Deza Powell and Paul Larochelle said they wanted answers from the Portuguese authorities after their son, Adonis, died of sepsis on 19 May, 48 hours after he was first treated in hospital.
The couple, from Enfield, north London, have criticised the delays in transferring him to an intensive care unit at a bigger hospital as his condition deteriorated.
Fighting back tears, Powell, 45, said: “Somebody needs to be named and take accountability for what happened. My son was treated the worst, he had no dignity. It’s the lack of acknowledgment, the lack of empathy, the lack of compassion.
“I am determined that this is not going to be swept under the carpet, and I am determined that no other parent should have to face this pain.”
Powell took Adonis to Portimão hospital in the Algarve on 17 May, the second day of their holiday, after he developed a temperature and breathing difficulties.
Staff conducted tests and told the family that Adonis probably had bronchiolitis, a common chest infection. He was discharged with ibuprofen, paracetamol and an asthma pump.
“The following day, he seemed to pick up,” Powell said. “He was eating. You could see he wasn’t 100% but he was coming back. He was just a bit groggy and tired. I put him to bed and he had a really good sleep.
“In the morning, I picked him up and he was floppy and his left eye was swollen. But even that morning, he had yoghurt, he drank water.”
She took him back to the hospital and they conducted more tests. But Powell said she became frustrated as staff did not appear to be acting quickly, adding: “I was trying to spur them on saying: ‘Does he need antibiotics? Does he need fluids?’ Every question I was asking them was met with: ‘I don’t know.’”
Adonis was given antibiotics, but his condition deteriorated after he received further treatment and medication, which Powell said was not properly explained to her.
“They said his lungs had collapsed and literally that was the last thing I was told from 2pm to 7pm. We were just left in a corridor. I was trying to assess what was going on by the nurses’ faces and they were all crying. They were running up and down for what seemed like an eternity,” she said.
Powell and Larochelle said staff told them they were waiting for an air ambulance to transfer Adonis to the paediatric intensive care unit at Faro hospital, but that it did not arrive for about three hours.
The couple, who are public sector workers, described scenes of chaos and confusion as they waited. “A man came in and he did say: ‘[Adonis] stopped breathing but they’re working on him now, they’re doing their best.’ After that, the other doctor barged in and she said: ‘We’ve revived him’, and then she walked back out. So then I started to pray, pray, pray, pray,” Larochelle, 45, said.
Soon after, however, they were told Adonis, who has eight brothers, had died. They were offered the chance to see his body but Powell said: “I was screaming so much that I was sedated and Paul went before me because I wasn’t ready to see him.”
Larochelle said he could not believe that Adonis had died so he cradled the baby in his arms. “To me, the worst thing, I will never forget, is his body’s stiffness … and his whole chest was burned [from the defibrillation],” he said through tears. “I wanted to leave the room because I didn’t want Deza to notice what I had noticed, which is the baby’s body changing right in front of me. His body was really cold.”
Adonis’s body was returned to the UK on Tuesday and the couple are waiting for a second autopsy and an inquest. An inquiry in Portugal is also under way. The family said they had struggled to access documents from the Portuguese authorities and were fundraising for legal representation to find out what happened.
“There’s a lot of questions that we haven’t had answers to,” Powell said. “We’re reading along with everybody else what happened to our son [in Portuguese news reports] and it’s the worst thing imaginable. No one was forthcoming with anything.”
She added: “There’s no apology from anybody about anything. Even an apology right now would just be too little, too late.”
The couple are calling for improvements in the diagnosis and treatment of sepsis and for families to have access to interpreters in hospitals.
“This has destroyed all of us,” Powell said. “I just don’t know how we’re going to move forward. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to go on holiday again with the children. It’s like time has stopped for us … I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.”
The Portuguese ministry of health said: “The ministry of health deeply regrets the outcome of this case and sends its condolences to the bereaved family.
“Appropriate paediatric care was provided to this child by the Portuguese NHS. Unfortunately, it was not possible to reverse the worsening of the clinical situation. Inquiries into the procedures adopted in this case are ongoing, led by the competent authorities. The ministry of health awaits their conclusion for further pronouncement.”
