Canberra Hospital error blamed for loss of ‘spark of light’ Rozalia Spadafora

Katrina Spadafora can still hear her daughter Rozalia’s final words calling for her before the five-year-old goes into fatal cardiac arrest.

Rozalia Spadafora, 5, died of myocarditis caused by influenza at Canberra Hospital after waiting for hours to get medical assistance. Her family believe their concerns were dismissed by healthcare workers. Picture: Facebook

Katrina Spadafora can still hear her daughter Rozalia’s final words calling for her before the five-year-old went into fatal ­cardiac arrest.

“She called my name,” Katrina told a coronial hearing when asked what her daughter’s last words had been.

Members of the sprawling Spadafora family who packed the bare courtroom clutched each other and at times wept openly as the ACT Coroners Court examined the details of the days leading up to Rozalia’s premature death at Canberra Hospital.

Katrina retained her composure as she took the witness stand to remember her daughter as “a beautiful, bright bubbly, spark of light”, who possessed empathy beyond her years and was always “singing, dancing and making everyone laugh”. “There wasn’t a day that went by where she didn’t call me her best friend, and say, Mummy I love you so much,” she said.

But Rozalia lost any “chance of survival” after she appears to have been lost in the disorder of the hospital, her health deteriorating as she waited five hours to be treated and 12 additional hours to be diagnosed, allowing her window to be transferred to Sydney to slip away.

In its first week of hearings, the court heard that Rozalia Spadafora died on July 5 last year of a cardiac arrest after being ­diagnosed with myocarditis – or inflammation of the heart muscles – and influenza A. Katrina rushed Rozalia to hospital after their family GP failed to explain why she was “lethargic, puffy and not herself at all” and had shown no interest in celebrating her fifth birthday the day before she died.

Counsel assisting Michael Fordham said in his opening remarks there were “a number of inconsistencies” in the evidence provided by hospital staff, including the origins of a “paper slip stuck in the medical notes” which stated Rozalia had myocarditis.

Mr Fordham said there had been “lost opportunities” for doctors to save Rozalia’s life, in­cluding arranging a medical transfer to Sydney sooner because there wasn’t a pediatric ­cardiologist available to treat her in Canberra.

“The experts suggest if myocarditis had been suspected earlier then fluids would have been stopped or moderated and an ­attempt to stabilise and transfer made,” Mr Fordham said. “Rozalia may have been stable earlier enough for transfer had that occurred. While the experts cannot say if the outcome could have been different, she may have survived. The evidence appears to be that the window of opportunity for stabilisation and transfer was lost.

“The opportunity to transfer and for more extensive support was lost. Whatever chance of survival that was available to Rozalia was lost.”

Mr Fordham said Rozalia had been triaged as a category three patient meaning that she needed to be seen within 30 minutes. However, she waited five hours to be reviewed.

He also said there had been conflicting accounts from emergency department staff of who was responsible for Rozalia’s bed due to confusion during a handover.

“The diagnosis of myocarditis could have been confirmed 2½ hours earlier than it was when the troponin result (an indicator of heart damage) was available and seemingly known by some,” he said. “And suspected five hours earlier based on the available evidence, and a diagnosis made up to 12 hours earlier had Rozalia been seen and examined and treated in a timely fashion.”

The inquest will continue in December.