British hospital makes serious mistake: baby Nailah dies after doctors confuse serious intestinal disease with milk allergy | Abroad

The drama dates from 2020. Shortly after her birth in October 2019, little Nailah Ally was diagnosed with ‘necrotizing enterocolitis’ or NEC. This is a serious condition that occurs mainly in premature babies and in which the intestines become inflamed and die over time.

On December 28, 2019, Nailah’s parents took their daughter to East Surrey Hospital in the English city of Surrey. Nailah suffered from a swollen stomach and was being treated for a suspected sepsis, a severe reaction due to an infection. Doctors did not perform a bowel test. The doctor who treated Nailah, on the other hand, assumed the baby was allergic to cow’s milk and advised her parents to give her a different kind of milk.

Nailah was allowed to leave the hospital on January 7, 2020. A follow-up consultation was scheduled three days later. But the next day, January 8, Nailah went into septic shock. An X-ray later showed that the girl’s colon was perforated. The baby’s condition only worsened and she passed away on January 13, 2020. The autopsy later revealed that little Nailah had died of organ failure caused by NEC.

Nailah’s parents, 26-year-old Laila Tobota and her partner Emmanuel Ally, enlisted the help of their lawyers to investigate the circumstances of the death. “An investigative report from the Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS health fund (which manages the hospital, ed.) showed that no barium enema or bowel test had been performed. In hindsight, that test could have determined Nailah’s perforated intestine,” said the lawyers, who also claim that communication between the doctors and the parents was inadequate.

The Surrey and Sussex Healthcare NHS fund paid compensation to the parents, but says it is not responsible for Nailah’s death. “We take every death seriously and have already put in place a thorough action plan to ensure we learn the necessary lessons and improve our care for future patients,” said a spokesperson.

Mother Laila believes that certain hospital staff “ignored” her and her partner’s needs. “No one really asked about our child during the rounds,” she says. “Even though it’s been three years since Nailah died, the pain is still as heavy as it was then. She was a real fighter.”

It is not the first time that a patient in the UK has died at the hands of hospital staff. For example, 2-year-old Hailey Thompson died in December 2022 after doctors sent the parents of the toddler, who felt flu-like and had difficulty breathing, home because the hospital was too busy. British Matthew Simpson lost his wife Teresa (54) in November 2022 after she had to wait no less than 16 hours and 45 minutes for an ambulance.