Peterborough family’s devastation after three year old dies after complications from chicken pox

Ahad Tanwir was diagnosed with chicken pox in February 2017 when his condition worsened and he was admitted to hospital.

The medical negligence case brought against North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, revealed that had Ahad received better care he would have survived his illness. The family have now received compensation for what happened.

Tanwir Bashir, Ahad’s father, said: “Our family has been torn apart by the loss of Ahad and he will forever have a place in our hearts. It’s difficult to acknowledge that had things been different we would still have Ahad with us today.”

The case revealed that many errors were made throughout his care including, the delayed diagnosis of the excess fluid placing extreme pressure on his brain and staff at the Trust not passing on accurate information about his condition to specialists at Addenbrooke’s hospital who would have identified and diagnosed this issue.

As a result, there was a delay in transferring Ahad to Addenbrookes Hospital so that he could be admitted into the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU); and receive treatment through intubation and ventilation and neuroprotective care.

Ahad’s condition continued to decline and on February 20 2017, he was transferred to the PICU at Addenbrookes hospital where shortly upon arrival, he underwent emergency surgery.

Unfortunately scans taken after the surgery indicated that Ahad was showing no signs of brain function and his parents were told that he was not going to survive. The three-year old sadly died on March 1 2017, when he was disconnected from the mechanical ventilator.

Mr Bashir added: “The completion of our case this year has gone some way to provide closure for our family, and we will try and move forward having received some answers for what went wrong in 2017”.

Maryam Abdullah, a solicitor at Lime Solicitors, representing Mr Bashir said: “This has been an emotional case to work on but I am pleased that the Trust have provided clarity as to what went wrong during Ahad Tanwir’s care. Whilst the family have received compensation, the amount will never bring back their son or compensate for the loss they will continue to feel.

“Cases involving misdiagnosis, wrongful communication and delay in treatment are very challenging as the knock-on effect is huge. Unfortunately, until the NHS is sufficiently funded and fully resourced, cases of this kind will continue to impact families.”

The Peterborough Telegraph has contacted the North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust for comment about the case.