The grieving parents of a toddler who died after major surgery at Birmingham Children's Hospital claimed staff failed to monitor his condition, an inquest heard yesterday.
Samantha and Scott Doug-las's 18-month-old son Dylan died at the hospital on April 26 last year a few hours after having reconstructive surgery for a skull deformity.
In a statement read out by the city coroner Aidan Cotter, Mr Douglas of Hill View Road, Bromsgrove, accused the staff of not paying attention to his son.
He said: "There was no equipment monitoring Dylan or his breathing. He felt cold and his colour had deteriorated."
Mr Douglas said nurses were given information about his son by the doctors but, he claimed, they did not take notes.
During questioning of Sbyridon Sgouros, the consultant neurosurgeon who operated on Dylan, Louise Hunt, the family's solicitor, told the inquest staff observations of the toddler's breathing were carried out only for a short time and were not recorded for the three hours before his death.
Mrs Hunt said: "The recordings of Dylan's breathing were at 6.12pm, 6.30pm, 7.10pm and then there were no further recordings. Dylan's pulse was high but he was transferred to a ward."
Karen Hinman, the nurse who had been looking after Dylan after his operation, denied she had stopped monitoring his breathing. "I just did not document them but I observed them," she said.
Consultant paediatrician pathologist Tamas Marton, who carried out the post mortem, told Mr Cotter he could not find a cause of death until he read Dylan's clinical notes.
He said Dylan had an abnormally high level of potassium in his body, which caused his heart to stop.
Dr Marton said the high levels could have been caused by a number of reasons including a blood transfusion or muscular problems, but he ruled both of the theories out.
The inquest continues.
