A young lady who was expecting her second child died after a serious illness remained undiscovered and untreated for many hours at a hospital. Her heartbroken parents have since talked of their anguish.
In 2017, Annie Moylan, 37, was 18 weeks pregnant, in good physical shape, and admitted to a hospital in Melbourne after developing a fever.
She was not given life-saving antibiotic medication until it was too late, according to her parents Marg and Brian Moylan, a sequence of errors made by the first hospital, Holmesglen Private, the second hospital, St Vincent’s, and the private pathology laboratory.
The ‘intelligent and successful’ lawyer went to Holmesglen Private when she became unwell because Healthscope salesmen had told her father, a practising GP at the time, that the brand-new facility was cutting-edge.
When Ms. Moylan was hospitalised, her health momentarily improved when she was connected to an intravenous hydration flow.
There was no obstetrician on duty when she began experiencing stomach discomfort, which raised concerns among the medical staff that she would miscarry.
They lacked the tools necessary to handle a pregnancy-related problem. In a story that aired on Sunday, Brian Moylan said to 60 Minutes, “It is very, very tough.
Ms. Moylan, who was in agony and had a high temperature. experienced sepsis, a potentially fatal infection-related response.
According to sepsis specialist Professor Simon Finfer, “a 37-year-old lady with no underlying health concerns would have a good chance of survival if they were treated with antibiotics and appropriate supportive treatment.”
Inability to treat Annie effectively due to the misdiagnosed sepsis, nurses contacted an ambulance to take her to St. Vincent’s.
According to the paramedic data Mr. Moylan discovered, they had been told an obstetrician would be waiting.
However, there was none when they got there, and Annie was in growing danger.
“Somewhere, the truth is missing.” Who disclosed it to the ambulance officers? It may be found in the record. The obstetrician wasn’t waiting at that point, he continued.
At that point, with Ms. Moylan alert and interacting with the paramedics, Annie was experiencing a miscarriage and becoming unwell, but antibiotics may still have given her a very high chance of surviving.
After arriving to Holmesglen at 7:30 p.m., she wasn’t examined until 1.30 a.m. by an obstetrician who promptly identified sepsis and prescribed medicines, which were given an additional hour later.
Ms. Moylan was placed on life support and died shortly after.
Marg, Annie’s mother, stated, “That was dreadful, but we got to say our goodbyes.”
Despite having an after-hours emergency department, other papers the couple purportedly received show that Holmesglen’s pathology laboratory closed at 5 o’clock.
It was necessary to send Ms. Moylan’s test results to a private lab.
“Yes, I was astonished. Yes, I anticipated that (the pathology lab) to be there since the hospital has a critical care unit, said Brian Moylan.
The test sample was redirected after being couriered to the incorrect site, but testing didn’t begin until the next morning.
Two hours after she died away, they performed the blood culture test, according to Mr. Moylan.
We were astounded, Marg Moylan said. Yeah. When we discovered it, we literally melted.
If the test had been performed when Ms. Moylan was initially hospitalised, physicians would have had plenty of time to treat her since it took the test itself three hours to get findings.
In response to a letter the Moylans sent to the Victorian government on the situation involving their daughter, Safer Care Victoria promised to undertake a review.
The internal investigations being conducted by the two hospitals and the pathology lab left the reviewers with few answers, and the government body lacked the teeth to provide a meaningful conclusion.
The Moylans believe their daughter would have wanted a reform of Victoria’s private hospital system, and they are now calling for it.
Annie is continuously thumping. This is what has truly kept us going, Marg added.