Family begs doctors to keep 5-year-old boy in hospital after discharge costs him his life

Yusuf Mahmud Nazir’s family will never be able to forgive the staff at Rotherham Hospital. On November 13, this 5-year-old boy complained of a violent sore throat to his parents. The antibiotics prescribed by the general practitioner did not reduce the boy’s pain, quite the contrary. He was then taken to the emergency room by his very worried parents. There, according to Yusuf Mahmud Nazir’s uncle, they waited several hours before he was examined and a doctor declared that he was suffering from “worst case of tonsillitis he’s ever seen”. However, due to lack of staff and a bed, the little boy was sent home with a prescription.

Back home, the little boy’s health deteriorated further. His family therefore called an ambulance and asked that he be taken to Sheffield Children’s Hospital instead. “He begged and begged and begged for the doctors to help him. We just didn’t get the help we wanted or needed or should have gotten,” regretted the uncle. Again, the establishment could not keep Yusuf Mahmud Nazir and sent him home, where he tragically died. “We don’t want anyone going through this. And we’re just asking them to listen to people. Because when you don’t listen to people, that’s what happens”lamented the uncle of the five-year-old boy.

An investigation has been opened

The chief executive of Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust, Dr Richard Jenkins, offered his condolences to the family. “We have begun a thorough investigation into Yusuf’s care, which will include liaison with the Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, he explained. We have contacted the family and will continue to do so as part of the investigation. I would like to assure families that we have an appropriately staffed medical pediatrics service that provides support to our medical colleagues working within our urgent care center when needed.” According to the autopsy, Yusuf Mahmud Nazir died of an infection that “spread to his lungs” and caused several organ failures and triggered a number of cardiac arrests.