Sheffield mum's sepsis warning after Hospital Trust admits ‘missed opportunities’ before baby daughter's death

A four-month-old baby died of sepsis after health bosses failed to recognise and act upon suspected signs of the life-threatening condition a day before she died.  

Kyra Ali Aslam underwent surgery to reverse a stoma at Sheffield Children’s Hospital. However, medics did not fully outline the risks of surgery to her mum Lariece Greaves or obtain adequate consent.

Following surgery, Kyra’s bowel started leaking. However, doctors believed Kyra’s bowel was not working properly after surgery and a leak would be a rare complication.

By the time she underwent surgery to try and repair her leaking bowel, Kyra was not stable enough. She died two days after her stoma surgery.

Kyra's mum asks medical negligence lawyers to investigate

Following Kyra’s death Lariece, of Firth Park, Sheffield, instructed specialist medical negligence lawyers at Irwin Mitchell to investigate her daughter’s care.

Sheffield Children’s NHS Foundation Trust has now admitted a breach of duty in that it failed to take action to treat Kyra’s sepsis, while there were also missed opportunities to recognise and repair her leaking bowel.

It admitted that if she had received appropriate care, Kyra would likely have survived. The Trust has apologised for what has happened.

Mum Lariece and legal experts issue sepsis warning

Lariece is now using Sepsis Awareness Month in warning of the dangers of condition - which occurs when the body attacks itself in response to an infection. She has joined her legal team in calling for lessons to be learned.

Sinead Rollinson-Hayes, the expert medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell representing Lariece, said: 

“This is a truly tragic case and one that would have been avoided if Kyra received the care she should have.

 

“Sadly, through our work we see the devastating impact of sepsis and nothing brings that into sharper focus than what happened to Kyra.

 

“While we’re pleased to have secured Lariece with the answers she deserves, nothing can ever make up for what her family have been through. However, we hope this brings some form of closure to Lariece.

 

“In the meantime, it’s vital that lessons are learned to improve care for other families. Sepsis is incredibly dangerous but treatable with early detection and treatment.”

Sepsis: Kyra Ali Aslam's story

Kyra underwent surgery on 11 August, 2022, following which Lariece raised concerns that her daughter was not behaving as she did before the operation.

Just after midnight on 12 August Kyra started vomiting. Nursing staff feared Kyra may have sepsis and raised concerns with medical staff.

Kyra’s condition continued to deteriorate and she was taken to surgery the following day. However, she died at 3.40pm on 13 August, shortly after arriving in theatre. 

Lariece speaks out to help others know more about the signs of sepsis  

Lariece, who has two older sons and a younger daughter, Qayyim, 12, Keyaan, six and four-month-old  Zanayah, said: 

“Kyra, also known as Dolly Bleu by her family, was the most beautiful little girl with the biggest smile. She brought so much love and happiness into our lives and I feel incredibly lucky to have been her mum, even though our time together was cruelly cut far too short.

 

"Not a day goes by when I don't think about her. I'll never stop loving or missing her, and there's a hole in my life that can never be filled. Losing her at the age we did and in the circumstances we did is something I will carry with me forever.

 

"When Kyra died, our world fell apart. As a family we've had to learn to live with that loss, while also trying to understand whether more could have been done to save her.

 

"I owed it to Kyra to keep asking questions and fighting for answers. The Trust finally admitting failings is bittersweet. While they provide the answers Kyra deserved, and that she was badly let down, I still don’t get to watch Kyra grow up and celebrate milestones in life.  It’s difficult not to think she should be at home with her family.

 

"Nothing will ever bring Kyra, but I hope sharing her story encourages people to learn more about sepsis and recognise the warning signs. If greater awareness helps another family avoid going through what we've experienced, then Kyra’s death might not have been totally in vain."

Case background

Following a separate inquest into Kyra’s death, a corner issued a prevention of future deaths report. In the report dated December 2023 the coroner called on the hospital to outline what measures it would take to improve care.

The report said Lariece was told the stoma reversal would be “much more straightforward” than the operation to create it. When she raised concerns about Kyra’s condition post-surgery “insufficient weight was placed” on her fears, it added.

The report also ruled “that insufficient weight was placed on the nursing concerns about Kyra” following her surgery. When nurses raised concerns Kyra may have sepsis, medical staff said a leaking bowel would be a rare complication and believed Kyra’s bowel wasn’t working properly after surgery, the report said.

In the civil case, while the Trust initially admitted it failed to adequately obtain consent for Kyra’s stoma reversal and failed to recognise Kyra had features of sepsis, it denied a breach of duty.

However, following further legal submissions the Trust admitted a breach of duty.  

It admitted there “was a failure to recognise and act upon suspected signs of sepsis and that there were missed opportunities to recognise and treat” Kyra’s suspected leaking bowel from just after midnight on 12 August.

The Trust also admitted that on the balance of probability, with “appropriate care” Kyra’s condition would have been stable enough so that surgery to repair her leaking bowel would have been successful and she would not have died on 13 August.  

Signs of sepsis and support available

The charity UK Sepsis Trust says the signs of sepsis include slurred speech, confusion, extreme shivering and muscle pain, passing no urine in a day, severe breathlessness, raised temperature, high heart rate and mottled or discoloured skin.

Sepsis Awareness Month runs through September.