A loving and inquisitive schoolboy died of sepsis eight days after an NHS hospital diagnosed flu and sent him home with painkillers.
Dylan Cope, nine, loved playing with Lego and Rubik’s cubes and was looking forward to hitting ‘double digits’ on his 10th birthday.
He became unwell in December 2022, and the family GP admitted him to hospital with suspected appendicitis after he complained of ‘excruciating’ abdominal pain.
Dylan was discharged from the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, South Wales, in the early hours of the next day and parents Corrine and Laurence Cope were given a ‘coughs and colds in children’ fact sheet.
But Dylan didn’t get better and his condition suddenly deteriorated while the family waited two hours for an NHS 111 call back.
Dylan Cope, nine, (pictured) loved playing with Lego and Rubik’s cubes and was looking forward to hitting ‘double digits’ on his 10th birthday
Mr Cope drove him back to A&E at the Grange and he was immediately transferred to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.
Dylan, described as a unique and sensitive schoolboy, died of ‘brutal killer’ sepsis four days later on December 14.
An inquest is being held to discover why Dylan was sent home while he was seriously ill and if there was a delay in the 111 service.
A Pre-Inquest review last October heard the identity of the doctor who discharged the schoolboy from hospital was unknown.
In a written statement Dylan’s father said none of the medics at the hospital on Tuesday December 6 identified themselves by name or gave their medical qualifications.
He said: ‘A male medic, in scrubs and a face mask who came across as professional and sure of himself, said it was highly unlikely there was a problem with Dylan’s appendix.
‘Blood tests came back and they said the mystery was solved – Dylan had swollen lymph glands and had tested positive for Influenza A.
‘Dylan was still pale and lethargic. He laid quietly on the bed, not in excruciating pain but clearly in discomfort.
‘I was given a fact sheet for children with coughs and colds. I felt relieved and reassured that the medics all concluded it was not appendicitis.’
Dylan was given Calpol and Nurofen but became more lethargic on Saturday December 10.
His worried parents called the emergency number on the discharge note they were given by the Grange University Hospital after 19 attempts to get through a female call handler advised Mr Cope to call 111 for advice but he said she ‘did not seem concerned’.
He was waiting for a call back from a doctor when Dylan started shouting: ‘My legs, my legs.’
Mr Cope said: ‘His legs had started to mottle – Corrine said it was either meningitis or sepsis. An ambulance would have taken too long – I drove him to A&E and an emergency team took over.
‘He was taken to the University Hospital of Wales and after an operation he was on life support.
In a written statement Dylan’s father said none of the medics at the hospital on Tuesday December 6 identified themselves by name or gave their medical qualifications
‘The doctors told us there was nothing more they should do for him, it was highly unlikely Dylan would survive.’Life support was gradually withdrawn and Dylan died on December 14.
Dylan, the youngest of three children, was a ‘fit and healthy’ boy who was due to play a reindeer in his school Christmas play.
In a statement through their legal team his parents said: ‘Dylan was very loving and inquisitive with a quirky sense of humour.
‘He enjoyed playing with Lego and Rubik’s cubes and learning about science, coding, and had ambitions of becoming a computer programmer.
‘Dylan was such a unique character and lovely blend of feisty and sensitive.
‘He saw the beauty of life but also the injustice and was quick to make his views known.
‘His strength of character and fierce independence balanced with his softer, endearing, sensitive side were traits that made him rather unique.
‘On the day we were meant to be proudly watching Dylan in his school Christmas play dressed as a little reindeer, instead we watched him dying.
‘There is no doubt that Dylan would have grown up to do some very interesting things in his life, but we have been denied the opportunity of watching our son grow into a man and experiencing the joys of life with him.
‘Moreover, we are truly heartbroken for Dylan, that he will never get to experience the joys of life and the hopes and dreams he had.
‘We are no strangers to grief, but this is pain on the deepest level possible that no-one can truly understand unless they too have experienced the death of their child.
‘Since Dylan’s death, our lives have become unrecognisable. We are filled with grief and shock that our little boy was taken so soon and in this way.
Pictured: Laurence and Corrine COPE arrive at Newport Coroner’s Court
‘Our hearts ache for Dylan every millisecond and everything we see and do is through his eyes. Dylan’s absence is and will continue to be the undercurrent of our days until our final breath.’Mr Cope, a web developer and his wife, a civil servant, want to prevent other families suffering the same agony as theirs during the winter months when people are at their most vulnerable to viruses and infections.
They also want to raise awareness of appendicitis and the symptoms of sepsis, which is a reaction to an infection and happens when the immune system overreacts and starts to damage the body’s own tissues and organs.
Symptoms can be like those of flu and include severe breathlessness and a high fever.
The couple, from Rhiwderin, Newport, said: ‘We have been told sepsis in children is very rare, tragically we know Dylan is one of many to lose their life to this brutal killer.
‘There is much good work being done to help prevent deaths from sepsis and also improve outcomes for those recovering from sepsis but still a way to go.
‘We urge parents to always trust your instincts over anything else with your child, despite what you are told, if you feel something isn’t right it probably isn’t and be mindful that time may not be on your side.
‘Trust your instincts over anything else and seek urgent help.’
The couple thanked surgeons and staff at the university hospital of Wales for trying to save their young son.
They said: ‘Obviously, we want nothing more than to be in the position to say we owe Dylan’s life to them but tragically, we are not. What we do owe them is our sincere thanks for doing their utmost to save him.’The couple’s campaign has led to changes in sepsis awareness and a Sepsis Trust QR code is now printed on paediatric safety sheets in GP surgeries and hospitals.
The Welsh Government is currently working with the Sepsis Trust to produce a sepsis leaflet that will be distributed across Wales.
Dr Ron Daniels, Founder and Joint CEO of UK Sepsis Trust, said: ‘It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to lose a child and to look ahead to a lifetime of grief – Dylan reminds us that sepsis can strike any child at any time.
‘The UK Sepsis Trust is on a mission to empower parents to just ask, ”could it be sepsis?” if their child is deteriorating in the context of an infection and to encourage health professionals to listen – parents know their child better than anyone.’
It was also revealed at the inquest that a ‘senior’ doctor who wrongly diagnosed the dying schoolboy at a busy NHS hospital has not been traced.
His father Lawrence Cope told an inquest the doctor who spoke to him and Dylan at the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran didn’t identify himself or give his qualifications.
The father-of-three assumed he was a surgeon and told the hearing: ‘He came across as senior in his role and was calm and confident in his demeanour.
‘Although calm, casual, relaxed and confident he remained professional as though he was seeing me and Dylan in a professional capacity. He seemed very sure of himself.’
Mr Cope said the doctor, who was in scrubs and a facemark, was in his in his 30s to 40s, slim to average build, tall and with a slight ‘foreign’ accent.
In a statement through their legal team his parents said: ‘Dylan was very loving and inquisitive with a quirky sense of humour.’ Pictured: The Grange University Hospital, Cwmbran
The medic told Mr Cope it was ‘highly unlikely’ Dylan’s abdominal pains were connected to his appendix but he could not remember him physically examining his poorly son.
Peter Bassett, a paediatric staff nurse for 20 years, told the inquest that Dylan was seen by a woman doctor but he didn’t know her name.
He told the hearing: ‘Dylan was seen by a junior doctor, a dark haired female with her hair pulled back. I know all the senior doctors.
‘The hospital had some new doctors at the time and some wore facemarks because of Covid.’In his evidence Mr Cope said a male doctor told him Dylan had flu ‘which can cause swollen glands throughout the body’.
Dylan’s condition deteriorated at home and he was later admitted to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where he died after four days on life support.
The inquest heard the cause of death was septic shock with multiple organ dysfunction caused by a perforated appendix.
Paediatric nurse practitioner Samantha Hayden said it was ‘exceptionally busy’ in the department on the night Dylan was admitted and she didn’t look at the referral notes from his GP which said ‘query appendicitis’.
Nurse Hayden told the Newport inquest she ‘should probably’ have taken more time to ask Dylan and his father about his tummy pains.
But she said she did discuss appendicitis with Dylan’s father who wrongly assumed she was a doctor. ‘I did not disregard it as a possibility,’ she said.
The court heard Dylan complained of severe pain on the left side of his abdomen – the appendix is on the right.
The inquest, in Newport, is expected to last five days.