Nothing could have been done to save the life of a Fife baby who died when a viral infection caused him to stop breathing, a sheriff has ruled.
Little Zion Satha was just four weeks old when his heart stopped beating as his mother, Claire, was carrying him home in a papoose.
A fatal accident inquiry heard earlier this month how a desperate battle ensued to save Zion’s life and doctors even managed to get his heart going again.
However, by then his brain had been starved of oxygen for too long and his parents took the heartbreaking decision to turn off his life support system. Zion died in his mother’s arms.
His heart attack was brought on by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), which is common in children and can be life-threatening to newborn babies.
The inquiry, held before Sheriff Craig McSherry in Dunfermline, heard Zion died at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh on November 8, 2008.
He had been suffering from a blocked nose and had the snuffles in the days leading up to his death.
Mrs Satha was concerned as her elder son, Tyrese, had been hospitalised with a viral infection.
She contacted NHS24 and was advised to call the out-of-hours service at Queen Margaret Hospital in Dunfermline.
In the early hours of November 5 she took her son to the Queen Margaret and explained her concerns.
Zion was examined by a nurse and urgent care practitioner and she found no signs of respiratory problems.Tragic discoveryLater the same day she took Tyrese to his nursery, near their home in Inverkeithing, and carried Zion in a papoose.
As she was walking home she noticed blood coming from his nose and he had gone limp.
At 9.04 am she called 999 and was told to give him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
A paramedic, Michael Lumsden, arrived within minutes, but did not have a mask small enough in his bag to administer oxygen effectively.
As he went to look for one, another ambulance arrived and the crew picked Zion up and began to head to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy. When they reached Dalgety Bay they decided to drive to the Queen Margaret instead.
Neither the first paramedic nor the ambulance crew carried out cardio pulmonary resuscitation on Zion while in the Sathas’ home.
Doctors at the Queen Margaret managed to get Zion’s heart going again and he was transferred to the Royal Hospital.
Dr Julie Freeman, a consultant in paediatric intensive care at the Royal Hospital, told the inquiry, “It was clear the baby was not able to breathe for himself to sustain life and all the hallmarks of a severe brain injury were present.
“At this stage we knew the baby to be RSV positive and, after discussion with the parents, we decided to take the baby off the ventilator, essentially as continued treatment was futile at that stage.”
After life support was withdrawn a nurse placed Zion in his mother’s arms and he passed away at 2.42pm.
Dr Freeman said RSV obstructed a baby’s breathing and a child that young could go downhill very rapidly.
“It is known that RSV would be a common cause of sudden death syndrome,” she said, adding that after a child stopped breathing there was effectively a three-minute window to sort things out.
Another doctor told the inquiry he knew of babies with RSV collapsing in hospital and not surviving, even where intensive care facilities were immediately to hand.
In his findings Sheriff McSherry stated the cause of Zion’s death was respiratory compromise and RSV infection.No defects in system”There were no defects in the system of working, in the Scottish Ambulance Service, or in any of the various other medical agencies involved, which contributed to Zion’s death,” he said.
The sheriff noted that given the evidence, Zion was already dead by the time the ambulance crew arrived.
He did add, however, Mr Lumsden failed to check his equipment at the start of his shift as he was supposed to do.
“I asked Dr Neil Gibson (a consultant in paediatric respiratory medicine), having examined the various reports and other evidence, if, in his opinion, there was anything anyone could have done to have prevented Zion’s death,” Sheriff McSherry added.
“He replied in the negative.
“This tragic case, accordingly, was a very rare case of RSV causing death by the cessation of breathing and an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.”
Mrs Satha told The Courier following the inquiry she would never get over her son’s death.
“By managing to get an FAI into Zion’s death, we hope that other families won’t have to experience what we have.
“When we were told Zion had a cold we didn’t expect it to end up being fatal.
“We weren’t aware of RSV, but apparently it comes around every year, so we hope that any mother does not have to go through this in future.”
Mrs Satha runs a clothing store, which she named after Zion, in the Wellgate Centre in Dundee.