Baby death detail 'kept back until after cremation'

The father of a baby who died in hospital claims doctors "intentionally" did not disclose his son had a fatal infection until after he was cremated.

Ben Condon was eight weeks old when he developed a bacterial infection in April 2015, but his parents were told his death in the Bristol Children's Hospital was because of a virus, the second inquest into his death has heard.

His father Allyn Condon has accused the trust involved of a cover-up.

He said the harm caused due to not being told the correct information "cannot be underestimated."

University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust has previously admitted a failure to give Ben timely antibiotics contributed to his death.

A previous inquest originally recorded his death as being caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome, human metapneumovirus and prematurity, which was quashed by the High Court, after new evidence emerged.

A new inquest started on Monday, and Allyn Condon read a written statement to it on Tuesday detailing Ben's parents' experience.

"Losing a child is a tragedy in any circumstances," Mr Condon read.

"But in this case, that tragedy has been compounded by the fact that we have at all stages been faced with a failure to be transparent and straightforward about the circumstances that led up to Ben's death."

The inquest heard that Ben developed a cough on 9 April, and on 10 April his parents became worried.

They took him to Weston General Hospital before he was transferred to Bristol Children's Hospital the following day.

Ben was diagnosed with hMPV – similar to the common cold in adults – and was later found to have acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).

Mr Condon said he was reassured by Dr Suzanne Dean that if Ben's condition worsened, he would be prescribed antibiotics, but this did not happen until 17 April – the day he died.

"We believe that had Dr Dean done what she told us she would do on 16 April and gave Ben antibiotics, he would be alive today," Mr Condon told the inquest.

In a meeting after Ben's death, Mr Condon said his parents were "misled" by doctors who wrongly told them that blood cultures and blood tests had been performed on 16 April.

Antibiotics were prescribed at around 11:00 GMT on 17 April, but not administered until 20:00 GMT, by which point Ben had suffered a cardiac arrest.

After his death his parents were told a post-mortem examination would not be necessary.

He added that Ben would not have been cremated if his parents had been aware that he had a bacterial infection or had been diagnosed with ARDS.

"It is our belief that the trust intentionally waited until we had cremated Ben before disclosing any information to us about a secondary bacterial infection," he told the coroner.

The inquest is expected to end in three weeks' time.

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