Five-year-old Rozalia Spadafora waited for hours with her frantic family for emergency care at Canberra Hospital. A nurse thought the child didn’t look that bad and suggested they go home. They didn’t, but Rozalia died waiting for air transport to Sydney. What went wrong? As BELINDA STRAHORN reports, everything.

KATRINA Spadafora has lived every parent’s worst nightmare.

Her five-year-old daughter Rozalia died on July 5, a day after being admitted to Canberra Hospital with flu.

The pre-schooler suffered a cardiac arrest almost 30 hours after presenting to the hospital while awaiting emergency transfer to Sydney for specialist treatment.

Two months on from Rozalia’s death, her grieving mother is still seeking answers as to what went wrong.

“How could this have happened?,” she asks. “If you can take your child with a clean bill of health to the hospital and you don’t bring them back home then something is wrong.”

Initially told her daughter was suffering from Influenza A, Katrina was advised later that Rozalia had inflammation around her heart.

As her condition worsened, a decision was made to transfer the child to Sydney where she could be under the care of pediatric cardiologists.

Tragically, she never made it, passing away before her transport arrived.

“They kept saying that she was going to be alright,” said Katrina.

“I asked if this was life threatening and they said, no… she’s in the best possible place with the best possible care.” 

Rozalia was found to have suffered from the viral infection myocarditis, a rare inflammation of the heart muscle, caused by the flu.

The circumstances of her death are being investigated by the ACT coroner.

Katrina believes her daughter’s condition may have had a different outcome had specialist pediatric care been available at the hospital.

“This is the nation’s capital… we shouldn’t have to go to Sydney to get our children looked at,” she said.

She is calling on Health Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith to address the inadequacy of emergency pediatric care in the ACT.

“We need a proper pediatric emergency department with paediatricians who know what they are looking at,” Katrina said.

Following Rozalia’s death the health minister was widely criticised in the media for her slow response in reaching out to a family in mourning. Her leader, Chief Minister Andrew Barr, has also copped flack for preferring to wait until the coronial inquest has handed down its finding before formally responding.

This cautious wait-and-see approach is cold comfort to a family grieving the loss of their daughter.

“I am living a nightmare every day from this,” said Katrina. “My daughter is gone… they have taken my life.”

Revisiting the emotionally charged hours watching her daughter slowly slip away, Katrina believes that hospital staff were too quick to dismiss her concerns, forming the view that her daughter’s condition was not serious.

“We were 100 per cent not taken seriously,” said Katrina. “The care and the treatment was appalling.”

In the days leading up to her fifth birthday Katrina said Rozalia had been unwell with an ear infection, but her mother knew something was wrong when Rozalia displayed little interest in opening her presents.

“She was lethargic and pale and her face was concerning me because it was still puffy,” she said.

Katrina took Rozalia to hospital on recommendation of her GP who had seen her earlier in the day. The doctor revealed that Rozalia had a fast heart rate and said that she looked “worse” than when he examined her with the initial ear infection.

Upon arrival at the hospital – not only were the family forced to wait for hours in the emergency department – a nurse thought Rozalia didn’t look that bad and suggested they should go home.

“I couldn’t believe it… Rozalia was so pale, she couldn’t sit up; she was just lying there,” said Katrina.

Finally taken into the pediatric area, paracetamol and hydralite were administered – but it soon became apparent the little girl was gravely ill.

Her grandmother, Maria Callipari, said: “When we rang the bell, no one came… we had to do everything and I tried to find warm blankets, because she was cold.”

While undergoing tests and X-rays, Rozalia was moved between hospital wards. Her family became increasingly worried at her deteriorating state as she became less alert.

While the hospital was organising Rozalia’s transport for Sydney, Katrina noticed her daughter becoming increasingly cold – and her eyes had rolled to the back of her head.

“I was calling her name to make her come back… she looked at me, her eyes rolled back and she had a fit,” said Katrina.

A short time later after going into cardiac arrest the little girl lost her battle.

“They called us aside and said, ‘she’s gone, she’s gone’,” said Katrina.

“They couldn’t bring her back… we just had to leave her there with no answers, no nothing.”

Still struggling to come to terms with the fact that the brightest part of their life has gone forever, Rozalia’s family are trying to get on with their lives without her – but it’s not easy.

“Rozalia was like the sun, she was all light, and now that sun is gone we are lost,” said Maria.

The family feels broken as a result of this experience, clinging to the belief that this whole situation could have been avoided. Katrina hopes the coronial inquest will shed some light on what went wrong with her daughter’s case.

“No one told us what was happening until it was too late… we just want answers,” she said.

Her key message to parents looking to take their sick children to hospital is to “beware”.

“It’s Russian roulette, that’s all I’ll say… beware,” said Katrina.