Toddler dies after doctor misdiagnoses her with constipation

The parents of a 3-year-old girl who was diagnosed with constipation — and who then died of complications from cancer days later — say doctors could have done more to spot the deadly tumor.

The British girl, Francesca Sio, had a fever and constipation when her parents, Lorraine and John, took her to the hospital in 2017. Doctors repeatedly diagnosed her with constipation and gave her laxatives, but failed to spot a 5-centimeter (2-inch) tumor growing in her bowel, they told the Daily Mail.

Francesca’s symptoms worsened, until she suffered a heart attack and died at home. An autopsy later revealed that a blood clot related to the tumor had caused her to go into cardiac arrest. The tumor typically has a high survival rate if caught early enough.

Now her parents say the doctors at the hospital, Princess Royal University Hospital in Kent, were wrong to say her death was the result of “natural causes,” and will appeal the classification in court in November.

“We feel that at every point she was let down by the medical professionals she came into contact with,” her father told the Daily Mail. “We believe Francesca exhibited symptoms that were looked at by a number of doctors overly optimistically, instead of with caution, meaning crucial diagnostic tests were not undertaken.”

The hospital released a statement countering that “What happened to Francesca was very rare. It was bad luck.”

“When she was seen in the emergency department, the symptoms were consistent with constipation,” the statement continued. “Following Francesca’s death, we undertook a review of the case and sought an external opinion which did not identify any deficiencies or missed opportunities in her care that would have resulted in a different outcome.”