An intensive care nurse accused of killing a boy after a routine operation at a private children’s hospital wept as she admitted to being ‘partly responsible’ for his death.
James Dwerryhouse, seven, was admitted to Portland Hospital for an operation to treat a bowel condition, which meant he had to wear a nappy.
The young boy also had several other conditions, including poor eyesight, mild hearing loss, epilepsy and sleep apneoa.
He suffered severe brain damage at the hospital when a blood saturation monitor was shut down for nearly three hours on August 26, 2016.
His monitors were turned off by another member of staff without a doctor’s permission when he was awake, Southwark Crown Court heard.
Stephen Cachero, who is a nurse, temporarily removed James’ monitoring equipment because he was becoming agitated.
However, nurse, Anarudha Bhupathiraju, 64, failed to ensure they were working when he slept, the court was told.
James was found unresponsive by staff at around 4am that morning, and died the following day in a hospice near his Ipswich home after life support was withdrawn.
Bhupathiraju, who denies manslaughter by gross negligence, sobbed as she said that she was in ‘part’ responsible for his death.
The 64-year-old tearfully told the court: ‘I have wondered all these nine years why we could not save him. I am not solely responsible for his death but I am a part.’
She also told the court that she felt much pain for the seven-year-old’s parents and continues to feel ‘terrible’.
Earlier, she told the court that she never received a complaint in all her time working as a nurse, and that she did not want to work after James’ death.
She also said that she has been on lots of medication following the incident.
Bhupathiraju added that she had not been aware that the patient had been given an extra bolus.
When asked why there had not been hourly pulse and profusion number, she said it is typically done every three or four hours unless numbers are unusual.
The next nurse also waited for another 15/20 mins after the handover to check James she said, but ‘having said that I am not blaming him’.
Bhupathiraju said that she struggles to remember the night of James’s death and previously told the court that she had ‘given different accounts’.
Giving evidence for the defence, Dr Christopher O’Brien, a paediatric cardiologist, told the court there were several failings from the team at Portland.
‘My understanding is when I looked at the note, I couldn’t see any communication between Adam Brooks at Ipswich and the specialist at Portland,’ he said.
‘You have to know what’s the matter with the patient in front of you.’
Dr O’Brien said James’s problems should have been spotted by the doctors as early as 2pm when his charts showed high carbon dioxide levels.
‘Not doing anything about a CO2 level of nine is really foolish, especially in a child like James,’ the doctor told the court.
He also said administering more morphine at that point was a major problem, and that the doctor on the ward ‘should have insisted on monitoring and checked it himself’.
Dr O’Brien said it ‘creates an impression that it’s actually not that serious, whereas it was’.
Bhupathiraju, of Wandsworth, denies manslaughter by gross negligence.
The trial continues.
