Parents of a three-year-old Indian-origin boy, who died in a UK hospital a few years ago, told while an inquest into his death that they feel "really let down" by the medical staff that was treating their son.
 

The boy died at Leicester Royal Infirmary in the city of Leicester in November 2015 after being taken to the hospital for vomiting and diarrhoea. His mother, told an inquest at Leicester Coroners Court that she felt the hospital staff ignored her and husband's growing concerns over their son's condition, who suffered from Down's Syndrome. "I just felt that we weren't being listened to when we were raising concerns about his low oxygen saturation levels. We were being told that the machines weren't picking it up, it was explained away as a machine error," she told the hearing.

The mother recounted her son's final moments when she shouted for help as his heart stopped and doctors were unable to resuscitate him, Leicester Mercury reports. "Someone needs to take accountability and responsibility for what's happened," she said. The boy's father also gave evidence to the inquest, which concluded today.

Their son had a weakened immune system and was more vulnerable to infections due to his condition. Earlier in the week, the inquest was told the boy should have been moved to intensive care earlier and the head of paediatric services at the hospital in Leicester, doctor Samantha Jones, apologised for his death. "The boy should have moved through the departments within the hour and preferably sooner if possible. I just want to say we are as a department terribly, terribly sorry," she said.

Other doctors who treated the boy at the children's intensive care unit of the hospital Manish Arora and Nehal Thanawala also gave their evidence to the inquest hearing. While Arora told the court that he did not think the boy was critically ill, Thanawala said she had been "very concerned" about him. Expert witness Simon Nadel from St. Marys Hospital in London said the original diagnosis of vomiting caused by viral gastroenteritis "clearly in retrospect was not correct".

"There was a failure of communication between the clinical teams looking after Krishan, leading to a lack of ongoing medical involvement," he said. At the end of the inquest, Coroner Lydia Brown ruled that Krishan's death was caused by "natural causes". However, the family may consider legal action over medical negligence.