Search for answers after child dies in hospital despite intervention

A Queensland mother is fighting for answers after she was forced to call for an emergency examination of her critically ill daughter at Queensland Children’s Hospital using a process known as the Ryan Rule.

Carly Mulheran’s daughter Zara died in April and she wants to know if more could have been done to prevent the little girl’s death.

“They could have done something,” Mulheran said.

Created after the death of a child in 2007, Ryan’s rule is for cases where a person’s medical condition does not improve or does not improve as expected while in hospital.

Mulheran called for a clinical review of her daughter Zara’s care after she became critically ill.

But by April 3, the child’s life support was turned off.

“It’s every parent’s worst nightmare when they decide it’s time and you have to let them go,” Mulheran said.

Mulheran spent much of Zara’s short life advocating for her daughter.

After her child’s death, Carly requested medical records from the hospital and spent weeks poring over them in search of answers.

“Since she passed away, I haven’t had a single person sit down with me and explain what happened on the night of March 24th that brought her to the ICU,” Mulheran claimed.

The 20-month-old had a rare condition called hyperinsulinism.

Just before her death, she contracted hand, foot and mouth disease.

Mulheran also had long-standing concerns about her daughter’s heart.

“I believed he had a heart and lung problem and no one listened to me,” she said.

She said an X-ray and EKG taken at Caboolture Hospital in February noted abnormalities, showing Zara’s heart was enlarged.

She said she was never told about the results of those tests.

A month later, Zara was admitted to Queensland Children’s Hospital.

“They also did a chest X-ray,” Mulheran said.

“That x-ray showed pneumonia, which I was told, but also said her heart was enlarged and to call cardiology and get an echo (cardiogram).

“This was only done after her cardiac arrest on Monday.”

A clinical review group has been set up at Queensland Children’s Hospital to investigate Zara’s case.

But the mother says urgent change is needed.

“I can’t save her, I can’t bring her back, but I can save the next person sitting in this hospital right now fighting a broken system,” she said.

She also started a petition for a rule to give parents and nurses the power to seek immediate medical intervention if they believe a patient is in a life-threatening situation and feel their concerns are not being heard, further complementing the Ryan Rule.