Student, 22, who died of sepsis 'may have survived' if hospital had listened to desperate pleas of doctor mother
27 March 2025, 22:56 | Updated: 28 March 2025, 00:29
A fit and healthy university student may not have died from sepsis if doctors had heeded the desperate pleas of his mother, an inquest has heard.
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William Hewes, 22, died at Homerton University Hospital (HUH) on January 21 2023, within 24 hours of being admitted after his meningitis, caused by a meningococcal infection, developed into sepsis.
The healthy history and politics student was rushed to the hospital by his mother, consultant paediatrician Deborah Burns, who was a doctor at that same east London hospital for more than 20 years.
The inquest heard medical staff failed to give Mr Hewes the antibiotics he desperately needed in time and that Dr Burns’ son was "left unmonitored and untreated in resus for far too long", and that his care "was no better on the ICU until it was too late".
Delivering her narrative conclusion on Thursday, senior coroner Mary Hassell said he did not get treatment, including antibiotics and fluids "with the urgency that he should have". She gave the medical cause of death as meningococcal septicaemia.
Despite this, the coroner said it can not be determined that earlier care would have saved the student’s life.
The coroner said "he was already very unwell when he arrived and it is unclear whether if he had been administered all appropriate treatment promptly, his life would have been saved".
In a statement on Thursday, Dr Burns said: "I hope that the outcome of the coroner's inquest can lead to learning and improvement to the care of people with sepsis in the future."
She added: "On the night I took William to hospital I knew he needed antibiotics as soon as possible but I witnessed a delay.
"In all, I raised the alarm eight times. On one occasion I was told the antibiotics had been given when they had not."
She added: "My pursuit of the truth is not about blame. It has always been driven by concerns about the standard of care I witnessed in my own emergency department."
The coroner maintained that the question of whether earlier treatment would have saved Mr Hewes remains an area of “real contention.”
The inquest heard expert witnesses gave differing opinions, backed by data, relating to Mr Hewes' chances of survival if he had been treated earlier.
The coroner added: "I have thought carefully about each opinion, which I find were honestly and at times passionately given, but ultimately I am not persuaded by either. What I conclude is not that I cannot choose between them. It is that I choose neither.
"I am not convinced, even on the balance of probabilities, that the state of medical knowledge is such that we know the answer to the question of whether William would have survived had he received earlier treatment when he got to hospital."
Mr Hewes first began showing signs of sickness at around 1:30pm on January 20, 2023, reporting a cold and a headache.
His condition worsened until his mother began to meningococcal sepsis, rang the hospital emergency department and warned them she and her son were on their way.
She described her son's signs and symptoms, and he was then "medically assessed promptly", the coroner said.
She added: "By the time of his assessment in hospital, William had an almost 11-hour history of being unwell."
Dr Ron Daniels, UK Sepsis Trust founder and chief executive, had told the inquest Mr Hewes was likely to have survived if he had received prompt care, and said it is "perfectly possible" for non-specialist medical staff to deliver the necessary treatment.
Former NHS consultant in intensive care Professor Patrick Nee, who said he was instructed by the hospital trust to assist with their review, told the court it would be "a leap" to say Mr Hewes would have survived if his hospital care had been different.
The coroner said she will be issuing a prevention of future deaths report as improvements which have been made since Mr Hewes' death "should be shared".
She said: "I find it difficult to believe if this happened in the Homerton, it could not happen elsewhere."
Deborah Nadel, of Fieldfisher law firm representing Mr Hewes’ family, said: "The family are devastated to have lost William in these circumstances.
"Unless errors like those identified during the inquest are discussed and acknowledged, lessons are not learned and nothing changes."
She said: "We will continue to investigate whether the errors clearly identified during the inquest did cause or make a material contribution to William's death."
A Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust spokesman said: "William's case was thoroughly reviewed by our team and by independent experts.
"They found there were aspects of his care that could have been done differently, from which we have learned and made changes and improvements.
"A full action plan was drawn up following the investigation into William's death and several improvements have been made relating to how clinical staff manage suspected sepsis cases in our emergency department.”
