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The mother of a seven-year-old girl who died at Perth Children's Hospital says she pleaded with staff to help her daughter but was not taken seriously.
Key points:
- Aishwarya Aswath died at Perth Children's Hospital 16 months ago
- The inquest follows a long campaign for answers from her family
- Former PCH chief executive Aresh Anwar will give evidence today
Aishwarya Aswath died in April last year after attending the Perth Children's Hospital (PCH) with a high temperature and cold hands.
The Perth Coroner's Court today heard a statement from Aishwarya's mother Prasitha Sasidharan, who described how she grew increasingly worried about her daughter while in the hospital waiting room.
She approached staff five times while they were in the waiting room for almost two hours.
"I begged for someone to come and look at her," Ms Sasidharan said.
"I put my hands together and begged."
Parents pleas 'ignored'
Ms Sasidharan said her pleas went unanswered.
"I feel like I was ignored and not taken seriously," she said.
The court heard from both parents today, the start of an eight-day inquest.
In the two days leading up to Aishwarya's death, the parents described how their children played soccer together, ate ice cream and slept together in the living room.
When Aishwarya first complained of a headache, her mother attributed it to the ice cream, air-conditioning, and a late night.
But she continued to deteriorate and her parents decided to take her to PCH.
They chose not to attend the local Midland emergency hospital because they thought she would be better served by the specialist children's facility.
Aishwarya's vision deteriorated
While in the waiting room, they became increasingly concerned as Aishwarya complained to her parents her skin and eyes felt "dirty" and she was having trouble seeing.
Ms Sasidharan said she noticed discolouration in her daughter's eyes, and they managed to attract the attention of a male doctor who checked Aishwarya's eyes.
Aishwarya's father Aswath Chavittupara said the doctor "barely made eye contact" with him and his wife.
"He barely spoke to us before leaving," Mr Chavittupara said.
Another nurse came to check her heart rate and blood pressure, but could not get an accurate reading of her blood oxygen saturation due to faulty equipment.
Ms Sasidharan said they waited a long time before they attracted another nurse who tried to get Aishwarya to take some anti-inflammatory pills, but the little girl could not swallow them.
Ms Sasidharan said the nurse appeared to be annoyed with Aishwarya.
"I believe she was very rude," Ms Sasidharan said.
No urgency in medical response
She detailed how they were finally taken out of the waiting room, but there didn't appear to be any urgency, until another staff member assessed Aishwarya and she was taken to the resuscitation area.
Aishwarya's heart stopped beating and staff tried to revive her but to no avail.
Ms Sasidharan said they were told Aishwarya could not be saved.
"We went into the room and begged staff to save her," she said.
After Aishwarya died her father wanted to hold her but was only allowed to do so for a brief time.
In his statement, read to the court, he said there were "many missed opportunities to save her."
Fight for answers
Earlier, family spokesman Suresh Rajan, told reporters outside the court the family was hoping for answers.
"All we went through in the last 16 months, the fight for justice, the effort to find answers, the hunger strike and so on, was simply to find answers to exactly what happened," Mr Rajan read.
"For us to be able to change the system, we need to understand exactly what went on that night.
"The days of the inquest are going to be incredibly painful, but we see this as an opportunity for the coroner now to undertake a really comprehensive and independent review of Aishwarya's care that happened at Perth Children's Hospital."
The inquest is due to hear today from former PCH chief executive Aresh Anwar.
Dr Anwar tendered his resignation about two weeks ago.
Other witnesses include nurses and doctors working in the ED that night, but the inquest will also hear from other senior executives, including co-director of nursing in the ED and director of clinical services Susan Baker, and acting chief executive Simon Wood.
Australian Nursing Federation WA secretary Janet Reah is also in attendance today in the public gallery to support her members.
She said outside the court that the government and the hospital knew for six months before Aishwarya's death that the ED was "critically short-staffed".
She has previously raised concerns junior staff were being blamed for an incident that was caused by systemic failures.
The inquest is expected to run over eight days.