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Truth & Justice Fund For Francesca

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Overview
 
Thank you for visiting this page which is lovingly dedicated to Francesca Margaux Francisco Sio who senselessly died on the 1st of April who very very quickly deteriorated from a “simple case of constipation” on 28th of March to cardiac arrest in 3 days. 
 
In her memory, we would appreciate if you could help us obtain the truth and justice for the peace of our bubbly and Disney-princess-loving angel and help us save countless toddlers like her for years to come.

We hope to give parents, like ourselves, more peace of mind that they can go to bed with a bit more of comfort that their child would not suddenly die of a “simple case of constipation”.

No amount of money can ever give us the love and happiness that Francesca brought to our lives as her parents and the people whom she touched.  However, by fighting for her case, this is the best way that we can honour her life and give back the joy that she brought us over the short three-year period that she was with us.

 
What Happened?

For those who have been asking on what happened and how you may assist, we have created this page to aid us financially as we seek the truth and give justice to Francesca’s untimely demise. 

It is with a very heavy heart that we are sharing our recollection of what happened as we are still in limbo on what actually caused Francesca’s death.

·      17 Feb – Lorraine (Francesca’s Mum) called 111 to seek advice re chicken pox.

o   We were advised to go to the pharmacy for the pharmacist to confirm that it was indeed chicken pox.  Upon checking Francesca, the pharmacist confirmed that it was chicken pox and prescribed Piriton along with some Calamine lotion which we gave her as instructed and eventually the chicken pox went away.

·      3 March – Mum brought Francesca to the GP as her temperature has been fluctuating for the past few days.  We were advised to give her Calpol, which we again followed.
 
·      22 March – GP visit

o   I took Francesca to the local GP and mentioned that she had fever the night before and commented that she had been struggling with bowel movement for the past couple of days.  Also advised the GP that Francesca was feeling some pain in her rectum and requested him to have a look at it.

o   After doing some palpation and a cursory glance at the rectum, the GP diagnosed her to be constipated.

o   We were prescribed to give Francesca 5ml Lactulose and to give this to her for the next 7 days.  When the 7 days passes, the GP advised that we could come back for further assessment of the situation.

·      28 March – A&E (Emergency Department) section

o   Even prior to the completion of the 7 days since we visited the GP, upon collecting Francesca from the nursery, Mum was advised that Francesca was not her usual self and that she barely ate, just lied down the whole day, as well as feeling some pain when standing up or walking.

o   With these worrying symptoms, we thought it would be best to bring her to the A&E who are supposed to know what to do.

o   Mum advised the triage nurse of the symptoms that were advised to us by the nursery

o   After almost 4 hours of wait, Francesca started crying hysterically in the A&E reception which signalled that she was in severe distress.  This was when I approached the receptionist who in turn referred me to the triage nurse who (after finishing with the patient that he was with) advised that Francesca was “next in line”

o   After 4 hours of wait at the A&E reception, Francesca was eventually seen by an A&E GP who was at the end of her shift. 

o   After doing some palpation, the A&E GP requested for the Paediatrics team to administer suppository and after an intense argument on who should administer the suppository, the Paediatrics nurse came to the A&E GP’s clinic.

o   During the administration of the suppository and despite Francesca desperately crying and being in severe distress (which I fortunately have had a chance to take a video of), she diagnosed that Francesca still had constipation.  I never saw Francesca cry like this ever before.

o   After unsuccessful administration of the suppository, the A&E GP then wanted to refer us to the Paediatrics section who were insistent that “if it was just a case of constipation, we should be sent home to administer the programme”

o   Other than palpation and the unsuccessful administration of the suppository, no diagnostic tests were performed.

o   We subsequently noted from Francesca’s Hospital Notes that the A&E GP had diagnosed her to have a faecal impaction, which we were not made aware of.

·      28 March – Paediatrics section

o   Similar to the A&E GP, other than palpation, no diagnostic tests were performed whilst we were in the Paediatrics section.  The Paediatrics Doctor / Consultant came to the same conclusion that it was “just constipation” and we were discharged to give Francesca 13.8 gram sachets of regular Movicol (as opposed to the Paediatric Movicol as below) for another seven-day period with the Paediatrics consultant expecting her to consume a total of 38 sachets of this unsuitable product.

o   We were not advised on what to watch out for over the next few days.

o   We also learned from Francesca’s Hospital Notes that the version of the Movicol that the Paediatrics Specialist prescribed to Francesca was “not recommended for children under the age of 12” and that it was twice as strong as the Paediatric Movicol that the A&E GP had prescribed.

·      29 to 31 March – We decided to let Francesca stay at home with an adult (Dad, Childminder and Mum from Wednesday to Friday, respectively) to ensure that we were following the Paediatrics Doctors instructions to the letter.  Francesca started to pass very loose bowel on the 31st of March which we thought was a sign of her recovery.

·      1 April – Cardiac arrest

o   Around 1am, Francesca woke up to pass more bowel and even said “I’m sorry” to her Mum.

o   Around 4am, Lorraine was awoken by Francesca’s crying which eventually turned to struggle with breathing at which point we called 999 who provided us with initial instructions until the Paramedics came.

o   The Paramedics came and tried to resuscitate Francesca in our room before moving to the ambulance and eventually driving to the hospital.  However, all efforts failed and we lost our angel at 5.37am.

 
We are still at a loss, including all of the medical professionals that we have had a chance to share our story, on how such an ordinary and curable diagnosed disease could have resulted to the death of my daughter.

My wife and I work hard on full-time jobs and pay our taxes and national insurance bills religiously.  Like any parent, all we wanted was for Francesca to grow into a fun-loving, respectful person.  We feel thoroughly let down by the NHS that despite us only using their service on limited basis, we lost our daughter because of them trying to minimize costs to the point of compromising lives. 

We would have had no qualms paying for any diagnostic tests, as we have done on a few occasions in the past, especially now that it appears it potentially could have saved my daughter’s life because our daughter Francesca was everything to us.  My wife and I were raised leading simple lives and valuing family above anything else.

We never, in a million years, thought this would happen to us nor to anyone we hold dear.  It is something that we would not even wish on our worst enemies.  I can’t imagine any pain much more than a parent losing his/her very young child.

 
What We Would Like to Achieve?

We have no clear comprehension of what lay ahead other than pain and an arduous process of trying to seek answers to the many questions that we have which will let the pain linger for years.

However, all we want at this stage are answers – why? what happened? Could our dear Francesca have been alive today had it not been for the missteps in her healthcare?  We would like to seek answer to the question that keeps repeating in our minds every single day that is How can my 3-year-old daughter be diagnosed as having constipation end up dead after 3 days?

Unfortunately, as we are finding out, even as we have already lost Francesca, seeking truth and obtaining justice and peace for Francesca will not only take a long time and a lot of frustration but it will also cost lots of money.  This is why we are raising funds which will help ensure that we are able to endure and survive the overwhelming, time and resource consuming and frustrating process ahead of us.  More specifically, the costs will be incurred for:

1)    Legal costs to ensure that we are supported by the best minds as we face the giant that is the NHS;

2)    Medical costs including independent post mortem, seeking specialist advise such as forensic pathologists, paediatric consultants (i.e. research on what happened to her and how it could potentially be avoided by other toddlers in the future) as well as other specialists that we may require.

3)    Other costs to be incurred as part of the inquest / public enquiry that we are hoping to undertake to ensure that truth and justice is given to Francesca and let her death save many more children’s lives in the future.

For our ever dearest Francesca, we will fight and wait however long it takes to find out how our baby girl died. We put all our trust in the GP and hospital staff and it cost us our daughter’s life.  NHS Patients, in particular children like our 3-year-old daughter Francesca who cannot yet clearly communicate the pain that they are physically feeling don’t deserve to be treated like numbers on a balance sheet & cattle in the GP clinics nor in hospitals.

 

#treatchildrenbetter #truthforfrancesca #justiceforfrancesca #reformnhssavelives #notjustanumber #constipationkills #misdiagnosed #beautyandthebeast

Organizer

John Sio
Organizer

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