Bristol Children’s Hospital ‘cover up’ of Ben Condon’s death left parents devastated, inquest told

The parents of a premature baby who died just two months old said that Bristol Children’s Hospital “covering up” failings has had a devastating impact on them. Ben Condon’s mother Jenny even attempted to commit suicide following his tragic death in April 2015.

In June 2016, an inquest recorded Ben’s death as being caused by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), metapneumovirus (hMPV) and prematurity. The following year, University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust admitted a failure to give Ben timely antibiotics contributed to his death.

A new inquest was then ordered by High Court judges which began yesterday (Monday, February 3). Ben’s father Allyn Condon – a former Olympic sprinter – read a statement to the court today (Tuesday, February 4) detailing his son’s treatment and death, followed by the family’s fight for information from the hospital where he died.

Mr Condon and Ben’s mother Jenny, from Weston-super-Mare, said: “Losing a child is a tragedy in any circumstances. But in this case, that tragedy has been compounded by the fact that we have at all stages been faced with a failure to be transparent and straightforward about the circumstances that led up to Ben’s death.”

Mr Condon said they had suffered “years of grief, anger and frustration”, with them both having post-traumatic stress disorder. “All we have ever wanted is the truth,” he added.

“We really hope that this inquest will finally answer some of the remaining questions that we have regarding Ben’s death and lead to an accurate account of what happened to Ben and the mistruths we were told afterwards.”

He later told the hearing: “The extent of the harm caused to us as a family by not being provided with correct information about the death of our baby cannot be underestimated. We have been unable to grieve, heal and move forward because we do not have the basic information needed to process Ben’s death.

“This has been made so much worse by the actions of the trust over the past 10 years. We have often felt that the trust have treated us with contempt and that there has been a desire to protect the reputation of the trust and its staff above all else, and without any concern as to the impact taking this approach has had on us as a family.

“What should have been a compassionate and candid approach to Ben’s death by the trust has been defensive, hostile, obstructive and adversarial from the outset and continues to be so even through this process. I really do not think that any learning has taken place.”

Mr Condon said Ms Condon was in an “extremely fragile state of health” and accused the trust of continuing a “hostile, obstructive and defensive approach”. He added: “It is inhuman.”

The inquest heard that Ms Condon had attempted suicide, and Mr Condon said she feared other parents may do the same. “If there is anything within the coroner’s power that can be done to ensure a better process surrounding the flow of information, so that other families are not harmed in the way ours has been, we would really like this to be done,” he added.

He said the trust was in a position of power as it had access to material relating to Ben that the family did not. “We feel that this position has been repeatedly abused for self-serving purposes,” he added.

The inquest heard that Ben was born in February 2015 at 29 weeks gestation and spent seven weeks in neonatal intensive care at Southmead Hospital. He was discharged on April 7 but developed a cold and a runny nose, and three days later his parents took him to Weston General Hospital before he was transferred to Bristol Children’s Hospital the following day.

Ben was diagnosed with hMPV – like the common cold in adults – and later found to have ARDS. Mr Condon said he was reassured by Dr Suzanne Dean that if Ben’s condition worsened, he would be prescribed antibiotics, but this did not happen until April 17 – the day he died.

“We believe that had Dr Dean done what she told us she would do on April 16 and gave Ben antibiotics, he would be alive today,” he told the inquest. In a meeting after Ben’s death, Mr Condon said his parents were “misled” by doctors who wrongly told them that blood cultures and blood tests had been performed on April 16.

Antibiotics were prescribed at around 11am on April 17 but not administered until 8pm, by which point Ben had suffered a cardiac arrest. “Over the next five hours, we had to watch our baby go through a horrifying series of procedures, including insertion of drains and cannulas and chest compressions, to try and save his life,” Mr Condon said.

“At around 6.30pm, we were told that Ben was in septic shock and that it was unlikely he was going to survive.” After his death his parents were told a post-mortem examination would not be necessary.

Mr Condon said four swabs had been taken from Ben’s body and sent for analysis after his death, which his parents were told “nothing about”. “We believe that we were not told because the clinicians did not want to alert us to the pseudomonas infection as it would have provided opportunity for us to derail their process of covering up failings in Ben’s care, by either asking more questions or insisting on a formal hospital post-mortem examination or referral to the coroner,” he said.

He added that Ben would not have been cremated if his parents had been aware that he had a bacterial infection, had been diagnosed with ARDS, or that swabs had been taken. “It is our belief that the trust intentionally waited until we had cremated Ben before disclosing any information to us about a secondary bacterial infection,” he told the coroner.

The inquest continues.