Girl, three, died ‘because doctors failed to pass on crucial notes’

A Girl aged three who died after developing an infection following routine surgery was the victim of a “serious failure” by hospital staff, an inquest heard.

Isla Taylor, from Twickenham, was admitted to St George’s Hospital in Tooting on June 23 last year for an operation to repair her throat. She had suffered from repeated chest infections after being born prematurely. She died five days later after developing pneumonia and suffering brain damage because of low blood pressure.

Westminster coroner’s court heard that Isla was given a bronchoscopy, where a camera is inserted to examine the airways. Dr Caroline Davison, a consultant paediatric anaesthetist in intensive care, said other doctors had “failed” to tell her in their notes not to move a breathing tube because it could obstruct her lung’s upper right lobe. Fearing the tube would “migrate”, Dr Davison moved it, blocking part of Isla’s lung which “on the balance of probabilities” would have led to her contracting the infection. She told the court: “I think anything about an airway that hasn’t been handed over would have been a serious failure.”

In a statement read out in court today, Isla’s parents said: “She absolutely loved life. There was no sign of any problems other than stated and her chest infection, which was something this surgery was supposed to help.”

The inquest continues.