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Hospital investigates 'high dose' baby blunder

31/12/2001

THE parents of a three-week-old baby - given a drugs overdose in hospital - face an agonising wait to see if their son has been left deaf.

Harrison Newsome ended up in intensive care after staff at Wythenshawe Hospital administered 10 times the prescribed dosage of antibiotics to the Heald Green baby.

Parents Rachel and Malcolm are now waiting to see if their son has been left deaf, although Harrison will have to wait two-three months as he is too young to be tested at present.

''We thought he might die,'' Rachel told manchesteronline.

''They said it was possible that his kidneys would fail and that they might have to put him on dialysis to rid his body of the drug quicker, although they said there was a one in 100 chance that this would kill him anyway.

''They couldn't tell me what chance he had, because this has never happened before. We were beside ourselves.''

The couple are planning to complain to the General Medical Council and are calling for a full inquiry.

A spokesman for Wythenshawe Hospital said: ''We have met with the family to explain that it would seem their baby son was unfortunately given too high a dose of a drug in error on the children's ward at Wythenshawe."

He added: ''An internal investigation has commenced to examine the full circumstances.''