TESTIMONY. “If I had listened to my instincts and not the doctors, my daughter would not have died of strep A”

Last May, Catherine Williams’ life came to an end when her daughter, Scarlotte, died when she was just 9 years old. “Over the past six months, an anger has bubbled up deep within me – a rage buried beneath layers of terrible grief and pain”she writes in a moving testimony published on the DailyMail. According to this mother, the little girl died because doctors misdiagnosed her twice. “I’m furious with myself for letting doctors’ assurances override my instincts as a mother, writes Catherine Williams. And I’m angry that for five long days Scarlotte was misdiagnosed.” According to this mother, the doctors first diagnosed Scarlotte with a mild respiratory infection before thinking of food poisoning.

“By the time my husband, Calley, a production agent, and I realized how desperately ill she was, it was already too late”, she wrote. In desperation, Scarlotte’s parents took her to the emergency room where doctors placed the little girl in a red chair and then took her to a resuscitation room. Placed under respiratory assistance, the 9-year-old girl was already condemned by streptococcus A and sepsis “had submerged his body”. “I cradled her moments after she died, her neck still warm in the crook of my arms. My child was gone. I still can’t believe it. The shock is totalwrites this devastated mother again. If I had listened to my instincts and not the doctors, my daughter would not have died of strep A.”

An epidemic of streptococcus A?

“There’s nothing I can do to ease my guilt. But at least the anger I feel encouraged me to speak up. I need other parents to know what strep A looks like,” adds Catherine Williams, who lists the symptoms: sore throat, hoarse cough, intense fatigue, fever, dehydration, restlessness. According to updated figures from the British Health Agency (UKHSA), 15 children under the age of 15 died last week from contamination with the bacteria streptococcus A. 659 cases have been identified since the start of the epidemic season. in England, which is the highest level at this time of year in five years. Public Health France evokes “a higher than usual number of pediatric cases of invasive Group A Streptococcal (IISGA) infections”.