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Scots toddler died from sepsis day after medics at hospital said it was 'tummy bug'

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date13 September 2021
Publication titleDaily Record, The / Sunday Mail: Web Edition Articles (Scotland)
Now Harper Aitken’s mum Lori Mullen is begging other parents to “follow your gut” if children are ill and to mentionto doctors if they see a rash.

Lori, 36, told howForth Valley Royal Hospitalturned her “whirlwind” daughter Harper, three, away without consulting a paediatrician.

Today, on World Sepsis Awareness Day, Lori is speaking out to raise awareness.

Lori, from Bo’ness near Falkirk, said: “Harper was a wee whirlwind. She loved dancing and music and was a real girly girl but she also loved playing outside and getting dirty, really dirty.”

But in 2019 her light was extinguished after a doctor failed to spot the sepsis signs.

Tributes to Glasgow teenager Aidan Pilkington killed in hit and run as cops hunt driver

Harper told Lori she felt ill on March 6 but seemed fine later on that day.

But the next day she felt worse and Lori saw a rash on her stomach which failed the glass test. Lori said: “I phoned an ambulance. When it arrived, her temperature was 41.5. She was observed for a wee while at the hospital but she had begun to feel a bit better.”

The doctor asked for a urine sample but as Lori was collecting it Harper defecated and the medic said it was contaminated.

Lori said: “I asked her to look at it but she refused and said she was just going to put it down as a tummy bug.

“The rash had disappeared and her temperature was coming down so I was told to take her home. In the night she was hallucinating and her temperature went up again.”

“Next morning she had perked up but she was back and forward to the toilet with diarrhoea.

“In the afternoon my mum noticed a blue dot on her hand. I lifted up her top and found the rash really bad on her back. Her lips were beginning to turn blue.”

Lori took Harper to her GP, who phoned an ambulance. Lori said: “I heard him saying...

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