Shouldn’t This Be A Job For The Police?

A doctor accused of wrongly discharging a boy from hospital before he died from sepsis cannot be tracked down, health chiefs have admitted. Dylan Cope, nine, suffered a burst appendix which led to a sepsis infection spreading through his body - and a coroner later ruled that had he been kept in hospital to have his appendix removed, 'his death would have been avoided'.

But a mystery medic discharged him with an advice sheet for flu after failing to read the referral note from the doctor. An inquest ruled Dylan partly died from neglect and his parents have been trying to trace the doctor who assessed him.

Why? Shouldn't the police be doing this? Isn't it their job? 

Yet almost two years following the schoolboy's death, parents Corinne and Laurence Cope say they have been told the health board are unable to identify the clinician in question. They appealed to the Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran, south Wales. to hand out anonymised portraits of staff so his father - who had accompanied Dylan to hospital - could identify him, but have been told this is not an option.

Why not? It's almost like they don't want to find him, isn't it? 

Mrs Cope has now said: 'Losing Dylan is a life sentence of pain for us, and for all we know the person who was instrumental in reassuring Laurence is carrying on in his profession as usual.

'If they can't identify all staff involved, how can they ensure that this will not happen again 

'We are concerned for future patient's safety. If they don't identify people, then there is no accountability. Accountability is a key part of learning.'

There's never any accountability.  

Mr Cope said the doctor, who was in scrubs and a facemask, was in his 30s to 40s, slim to average build, tall and with a slight 'foreign' accent.

Probably of little help in a modern NHS hospital.