ABLEnews Extra

                   Race for Life Meets Dead End

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A toddler lost his fight for life after a desperate bid for medical
help took his parents to four hospitals in eight hours.

Health chiefs launched an investigation into the tragedy in which
23-month-old Robert Benton died as staff at three West Midlands
hospitals were unable to help.

Eight hours after their trek began parents Julie and Tim Benton were
told emergency surgery at Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital had failed
to save him.

Tearful Julie, 23, who buries her young son today, said: "I want to
know why my baby died. I don't believe he should have died. You can't
convince me of that--he was healthy until the day before and had even
been to nursery."

The young mother and 31-year-old taxi driver father now plan to take
legal action.

The timetable of tragedy began at his home in Rowley Regis, West Mids,
at 12.45pm on June 6 when the toddler developed breathing difficulties
and coughing.

* His parents took him to the local Sandwell Hospital where the
  accident and emergency unit was undergoing building work.

* Afraid Robert was not being treated urgently they drove ten miles to
  a children's unit at Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield, but
  specialists did not have the equipment to treat him.

* Robert was then moved to Birmingham Children's Hospital, but no bed
  was available.

* It was finally at 9pm at Heartlands Hospital that Tim and Julie were
  told their son had died.

Julie's uncle David Clifton said: "What has happened is unbelievable.
We want a full inquiry so that nothing like this can ever happen
again.

"They had spent eight hours being shuffled from one hospital to the
other, being kept waiting in corridors and waiting rooms and getting
nowhere."

A West Midlands Regional Health Authority spokeswoman said an inquiry
had started.

She said: "We have requested detailed reports of the events at each
hospital involved.

"The two main issues are firstly what the child died of, and whether
the death could have been prevented. This is a matter for the
coroner."

Specialists are still trying to establish the cause of death.

[Toddler Dies After Eight Hour Trip Around Four Hospitals, Chris
Hesketh, FutureNet World News, June 15, 1995]

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