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Kurt Sansone
The conclusions reached by the Inquiring Magistrate assigned to look into the death of seven-year-old Andrea Massa leave no doubt as to the lack of responsibility on behalf of a number of doctors who came in contact with the child prior to his untimely demise.
“In this case it results that different doctors examined Andrea. Some doctors prescribed antibiotics, others ordered them discontinued and others even prescribed different medication, some of which were not administered at all, as results from the medical experts’ report,” Magistrate Abigail Lofaro stated in her conclusion.
The Inquiring Magistrate had recommended the start of criminal proceedings against a paediatric consultant who was ultimately responsible for Andrea’s care. The boy had been admitted to St Luke’s Hospital where he underwent an appendicitis operation. After the operation Andrea’s condition deteriorated leading to his death a couple of days later.
A crucial aspect that might have led to the boy’s deteriorating condition was the failure on the part of the surgeon and other doctors to administer the child with antibiotics as is customary after an appendicitis operation.
The report of the inquiry clearly shows how the paediatric consultant did not check the young patient’s treatment chart when doing his ward round. Had the consultant looked at the chart he would have known that Andrea was not administered antibiotics during and after the operation.
“In an ordinary case of appendicitis, three doses of metronidazole are administered. The surgeon was meant to continue [this dosage] until Friday,” the paediatric consultant told the inquiring magistrate.
Asked by the magistrate to comment on the child’s medical treatment chart, the paediatric consultant added: "On the basis of what is stated in the [medical] charts, I agree that metronidazole was not administered [to Andrea]… I did not check the boy’s chart. I relied only on the information given to me by the surgeon on the day following the appendicitis operation performed on Andrea Massa. During the ward round... I assumed that the boy was being administered antibiotics, and did not in fact check the treatment chart.”
Giving evidence in front of the magistrate, the surgeon who operated on the boy also confirmed that she did not administer antibiotics during the operation. “During the appendectomy I did not administer any antibiotics [to the boy]. I confirm that at no time on that day following the operation did I tell the consultant that I administered any antibiotics.”
The day after the operation and when Andrea’s condition had not improved, the paediatric consultant ordered a second dose of antibiotics but again these were not administered.
“Nobody informed me that Erythromycin was not in fact administered to the boy. It was not my fault that each time I ordered antibiotics somebody else discontinued them,” the paediatric consultant told the inquiring magistrate.
Medical experts giving evidence in front of the magistrate however were of the opinion that the consultant’s failure to look at the child’s treatment chart was a serious matter.
“The fact that the consultant did not follow the treatment charts after the operation, is a failing because it means that Andrea was not administered antibiotics for yet another day,” the experts summoned in front of the magistrate said.
Despite the chain of events displaying gross negligence by the various doctors that were involved with Andrea Massa’s case, former Attorney General Anthony Borg Barthet decided to stop criminal proceedings, declaring there was not enough proof to prosecute against the paediatric consultant.
The Health Department also refuses to make public the results of an internal inquiry into the boy’s death. Director General Ray Busuttil told MaltaToday last week that internal inquiries were not a matter for public consumption. He would neither say whether as a result of the internal inquiry certain administrative and medical procedures at St Luke’s Hospital were changed.
kurt@newsworksltd.com
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