A 13-year-old girl died from sepsis after a senior doctor missed 'high-risk' signs of the condition and didn't send her to intensive care, a tribunal has ruled.
Martha Mills was an inpatient on the Rays of Sunshine Ward at King's College Hospital in London after she suffered a serious injury to her pancreas when she slipped while riding a bike on a family holiday in Wales in July 2021.
Weeks later she experienced a fever, increased heart rate and had a catheter inserted into her vein, which is said to have been a likely source of the deadly infection, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) hearing was told.
More spikes in her temperature followed, before consultant hepatologist Professor Richard Thompson saw Martha on his morning ward round on August 29 at the hospital.
The on-call consultant left the hospital at 3pm, but was phoned at home two hours later by a trainee doctor, who gave an update on Martha's condition.
