Mother says hospital failed to diagnose meningitis that killed daughter

An emotional mother-of-three, Jacqueline Abela Degiovanni took the witness stand in a malpractice suit against seven doctors accused of misdiagnosing her daughter Amy Abela, who eventually died.

The names of the doctors cannot be published by court order.

On Tuesday, 23 February 2011, as her second pregnancy approached its final days, her first-born Amy, at the time aged 2, started a bout of vomiting that lasted through the night. She was taken to St James Hospital, where doctors said the girl was suffering from dehydration.

As the girl kept vomiting into the morning, the family consulted their paedetrician, who was said to have suggested that the girl be admitted to Mater Dei since the expectant mother was due to give birth in days.

The girl was eventually admitted to Mater Dei's emergency department on Thursday, and then to the Disneyland children's ward. The expectant mother was also admitted to hospital to give birth to her daughter Eve.

Following the birth of her daughter on Friday afternoon, the mother was informed that Amy's blood results had shown a high count of white blood cells, was appearing lethargic, and not keeping down any food, but doctors said there was no need to administer antibiotics, claiming the child was suffering from a tough bout of gastritis.

On the night between Friday 26 and Saturday 27 February, Abela Degiovanni's husband summoned the wife to Mater Dei, where she arrived at the Disneyland Ward to find Amy surrounded by doctors trying to resuscitate here. A priest accompanied the mother out of the ward, and minutes later her father exited the ward and collapsed to the floor, as doctors had failed to resuscitate the girl.

Lawyers for Abela Degiovanni later commenced proceedings, requesting medical files and appointing pathologist Marie-Therese Camilleri Podestà to attend the post-mortem. Abela Degiovanni herself protested with the consultant paedetrician why he had refused to administer antibiotics to the child, against her will.

Camilleri Podestà too the witness stand, where she told the court that the autopsy carried out by Ali Safraz had confirmed that Abela's cause of death had been bacterial meningitis, also confirmed by Safraz under oath.

The hearing was put off for 19 June, with the court instructed the Attorney General to appoint a forensic paedetrician as a court expert. The request was objected to from the defence against the nomination of one particular expert, which was upheld by the court.

Inspector Jesmond Grech prosecuted while Dr Catherine Grima is appearing for the parents.

Lawyers  Lucio Sciriha and  Michael Sciriha are defence for six of the doctors whilst lawyer Joseph Giglio is appearing for the pediatrician.