Teenager was near death

By Kelly Yates
THE mother of a Narre Warren South teenager who almost died from a brain infection is furious with what she says was a “lack of treatment” at Casey Hospital.
Anne Newton said she was “horrified” that staff at the Berwick hospital refused to believe her 16-year-old daughter Kate was seriously ill.
Anne took her daughter to the hospital on 3 June with “agonising headaches.”
“We thought she had a bug but she kept getting worse and vomiting,” Ms Newton said.
“The doctors at Casey Hospital didn’t listen to us and suggested Kate was pregnant.”
Ms Newton said a test showed Kate had a urinary infection and she was sent home with antibiotics.
“I knew the symptoms she had weren’t just from a urinary infection but they refused to give her a brain scan,” she said.
Kate’s symptoms slowly got worse and two days later Ms Newton took her back to Casey Hospital.
“Again they didn’t give her a brain scan but diagnosed her with vertigo,” she said.
One doctor allegedly told Ms Newton they didn’t want to “fry her brain” from the radiation.
Ms Newton was forced to call the Royal Children’s Hospital when Kate’s symptoms were worsening.
“I was told to call an ambulance immediately,” she said.
Kate had a brain scan at Dandenong Hospital which showed she had fluid on her brain and she was rushed to Monash Medical Centre, where she had to be resuscitated in the emergency department after an anaphylaxis attack.
“It was horrible. Her eldest sister saw it all. It’s traumatised her.”
Neurosurgeons then performed the life-saving operation on Kate to pierce the membrane which was filled with fluid.
The Year 10 student at Narre Warren South P-12 College is back at school but still suffering from short-term memory loss.
“We’ll never go back to Casey Hospital,” Ms Newton said.
“They didn’t seem to listen to us or take it seriously.”
Professor George Braitberg, the director of emergency medicine at Southern Health, said he was meeting with the Newton family later this week to discuss their concerns.
He said the patient was treated for her presenting symptoms while at Casey Hospital on 3 June.
“Our staff believe her care was appropriate,” he said.
“Three days later when she returned to Casey Hospital she again was treated for her presenting symptoms, was placed under observation and discharged home.”
Professor Braitberg said her symptoms were “quite different” when she arrived at Southern Health’s Dandenong Hospital Emergency Department.
“A CT scan indicated that she should be transferred to Southern Health’s Monash Medical Centre (Clayton) where she was treated immediately by an appropriate specialist team.”