00:03Condolences for a life cut short.
00:05The grief the Dhar family continues to experience following the loss of their little boy is lifelong.
00:15Shondapan Dhar is remembered as a happy 21-month-old who loved his older brother.
00:21His sudden death at Joondalup Health Campus in 2024 became subject of a coronial inquest last year
00:27focused on whether a blood test during his first hospital visit could have saved his life.
00:32The toddler had been suffering from fevers for three weeks,
00:36an autopsy later revealing he died from complications of undiagnosed leukaemia.
00:41In her findings, Acting Coroner Sarah Linton said,
00:45This was more than a missed opportunity.
00:46I find on the balance of probabilities that had blood tests been performed on 22 March 2024,
00:53Shondapan's leukaemia would have been identified and he would likely have survived with definitive treatment.
01:00His death was therefore probably preventable.
01:03She made six recommendations including the Joondalup Health Campus
01:07consider what additional education can be provided to clinical and emergency department staff in paediatric care
01:14to ensure they're aware of cultural differences in the way that parents and caregivers communicate parental concern.
01:21The incident has already sparked change with the operating of a paediatric rapid review clinic
01:27and a dedicated children's specialist added to the hospital's ED.
01:31We are intending to implement all of the recommended changes from the coroner's report in full as a priority
01:39and we will be reviewing the effect of these changes before the end of this year.
01:45Shondapan's story prompting the state government to consider broader changes across WA's health system.
01:51The government will consider all of the recommendations and findings and respond to that.
01:56Coroner Linton says she's confident more change will emerge from the inquest
02:00and reassured Shondapan's family their son will never be just a number.
02:05Like the research and any of the research probably made at the top of the academic report
02:05So, we've been doing the research in this product, because it is a number of the instruments that we can
02:05use.
02:06The research in our research is how we can use the research at the top of the research
Comments