Australian girl dies from malnutrition, coeliac disease. mum arrested

[QuebecBagnet]

Link ere www.couriermail.com.au/breaking-news/mums-heartbreaking-social-media-post-before-6yo-charlies-death/news-story/d3c483c29c99d37f2b81ebfd57437dcc

So sad, I'm not denying the house maybe seemed a bit chaotic but the mum says she always fed her kids, there didn't seem to be particular concerns over the kids welfare before but now the other 5 kids are in care and mum is being investigated by the police.

Sounds like the coeliac disease wasn't diagnosed until post mortem.

It's just very close to home as dd nearly died due to malnutrition due to undiagnosed coeliac disease. She'd been very skinny and unwell for years. I'd taken her back and forth to the doctors. Eventually thanks to MN asked for a coeliac blood test which was positive but they tell you she has to keep eating gluten until getting an endoscopy which had a six month waiting list.

The week before she collapsed I rang not only my GP and the local hospital trying to get her seen urgently but every hospital in a 50 mile radius for a quicker appt (this was before covid). I remember telling my GP that I thought DD would be dead before the endoscopy and they said they couldn't help. We made a decision that day to stop the gluten regardless of official diagnosis - we knew it meant she'd never get an official diagnosis but felt her health was more important.

The next day we couldn't wake her up. The consultant in A&E was horrified when he saw her, said she must be seriously bulimic or anorexic. I was adamant she wasn't. He said she was seriously malnorished (abnormal bloods due to electrolytes, etc). Was straight on a drip and admitted. The doctor said she was about 24 hours away from death (if there hadn't been intervention).

So I can see how something like this can happen. If you had said to me the day before she collapsed do you think she's 24 hours away from dying I'd have laughed. I knew she was poorly, I knew she was underweight, I knew she was being sick every day and I knew she couldn't go on another six months but I was assured by all HCPs that she could wait and had to wait.

Well, in your case, I would guess there would be a record of all your doctor visits, all your doctor calls, your plea for earlier intervention?

It doesn’t sound like this parent did that.

Sorry about your dd. I’m glad she’s ok now though

That's madness! My 3 Yr old was diagnosed with a blood test within 2-3 months of calling the gp about his weight / vomiting / large poos

But you can be a silent coeliac without all the vomiting and bowel issues. So all you get is malabsorption and chronic malnutrition. Yes, it's likely she would have been skinny/underweight but not necessarily horrifyingly so. The kid was seen by someone official 2 days before dying and they weren't worried about her.

She doesn't look malnourished in the photos, yes she looks slender but there's plenty of skinny kids around.

I’m actually speechless regarding your DDs treatment. Your Dr seems negligent!

@Soubriquet the OP and her partner/spouse would have still been arrested and any other children taken into care, until it was established that:

1. She did take her child to the doctors and asked for help, and
2. Neither parent caused their child's death.

This would take months.

There have been cases in the UK media/press that show this.

And that was after 7 years of being fobbed off over her frequent vomiting that some kids are a bit "sicky". Not just one GP, probably about 5 or 6 different ones. Was told she'd grow out of it. She only got the blood test because people on MN told me to ask for it.

The GP said they have no control over wait lists. I was ringing up the gastro dept medical secretaries and the waiting list people at the hospital who said no way of speeding it up. Couldn't pay privately when we enquired at the private hospital as she was under 18yo.

The Dr would be blameless as s/he referred the child.

I cried reading that article. And this mum from what reading between the lines may come from a "rougher" family (sorry for being blunt, I'm not judging her) will be absolutely up against it.

The neighbours raised concerns before in this situation on other issues, so I'm glad they're now investigating the mum. I'm just sad it didn't happen sooner. The kids should have all been removed from the home when they saw the mum being stabbed by the dad.

You took your child to drs several times. Given that the child witnessed violence, the state of the home and the fact that neighbours complained that the child was unwashed they neglected their child. The headlice situation must have been bad for neighbours to notice and it seemed that she was more than a little unkempt.

I'm not denying the house maybe seemed a bit chaotic but the mum says she always fed her kids, there didn't seem to be particular concerns over the kids welfare before but now the other 5 kids are in care and mum is being investigated by the police

The picture of the house looks more than a 'bit chaotic' (garden overgrown and half covered in junk), the DC had visible lice and were unwashed, the family had been reported to the child services more than once, and the DC had witnessed their addict father stab her mother.

It seems to be a case where neighbours can't understand why child services did not act to remove.

It's also not clear when she was diagnosed - the article says 'it was revealed that she had been diagnosed' which might or might not be a synonym for the diagnosis was first made post mortem. The article also mentions that there had been numerous ongoing illnesses. So she could have been very much in the same circs as OP's DC.

I know that paediatric patients are now diagnosed on blood tests alone - which incidentally I argued for 5 years ago because that's been standard in Europe for years. I'm so glad kids don't have to wait now - though guess some do if their bloods are border line. And I bet the waiting lists are even longer.

I'm sorry for what happened to you, but the stories do not seem comparable.

I'm not denying the house maybe seemed a bit chaotic but the mum says she always fed her kids, there didn't seem to be particular concerns over the kids welfare before but now the other 5 kids are in care and mum is being investigated by the police

Did you actually read the article you posted?

I get that headlice and being dirty and seeing your mum stab your dad is all terrible and yes could argue there's neglect there (maybe bad enough on it's own for the other kids to be taken into care) but none of that will cause a child to die from malnutrition. The mum is adamant the kids were well fed but it's likely people will see the dirt and the lice and not believe her. But she could very well be telling the truth.

Such a sad story

waiting lists for kids in the UK are despicable

Your story and this don’t compare.

Did you actually read the article you posted?

Read about six different articles.

That's good. Perhaps try reading slowly. Then you'll see neighbours had raised concerns before and one contacted department of child protection several times.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11035575/Adelaide-house-horrors-Mother-Charlie-six-died-malnutrition-breaks-silence.html

Sorry for the DM link but the mum clearly says here she did not know about the coeliac disease until after. And that she had asked childrens services for more support and that wellbeing support workers had visited them two days before and obviously not felt the kids needed taking into care then.

I'd say all the above is slightly more than 'terrible'....

The mum said? The same mum who was neglecting her children? Who neighbours had called child services over? Yeah I don't think I'd believe her tbh. You're clearly believing her as you're projecting your history onto hers but they are not the same.

That's good. Perhaps try reading slowly. Then you'll see neighbours had raised concerns before and one contacted department of child protection several times.

Yes and they were working with and visiting the family. Not removing the kids or thinking "oh God that child looks so malnourished I think she might die"

And you prove my point exactly that she will be up against it and nobody will believe her. She may well be lying. She may also be telling the truth.