Transplant boy's mother denies reports of overdose

The mother of a boy given a liver transplant at Auckland's Starship Hospital strongly denies suggestions that her son had been given more paracetamol than prescribed.

The 30-year-old Paraparaumu mother-of-three told NZPA from the hospital today that she was extremely upset at media reports yesterday that her three-year-old son had overdosed on paracetamol.

She said she had given him less than half the four doses a day of Pamol liquid paracetamol that her GP had prescribed, along with antibiotics, for an ear infection.

"I understand that paracetamol can be dangerous and they (medical authorities) need to get the idea out there, but my son's problem was dehydration and we were only giving him one or two doses at most a day in the right amount," said the mother, who wants to remain anonymous to protect her family's privacy.

"It has come across that we were overdosing him and I'm really, really upset.

"If anything I underdose my children because I don't like giving them medicine."

Starship child health director Richard Aickin was reported yesterday saying that both children who had liver transplants in recent weeks at the hospital had had paracetamol overdoses.

The mother of the three-year-old boy said she had not talked to Dr Aickin but other Starship clinicians had told her the boy could not have overdosed on the amounts of Pamol he had been given, but that his dehydrated body had not handled the amount he was given.

Dr Aickin today apologised for any implied criticism of the mother.

"It is quite possible in this individual case there may be other factors involved, but the key message we wanted to promote is that by far the most common cause of harm we see from paracetamol is when it is given at too high a dose or too frequent intervals," he told NZPA.

"I don't have enough understanding of what has gone on in her particular case and I would apologise if there was any implied criticism. That was certainly not my intent."

Paracetamol is the most common substance of poisoning in young children. Dr Aickin said most children came to no harm and that sometimes led to a little complacency, but some children came to serious harm.

The mother said she was grateful for the work Starship staff had done to save her son's life.

She had taken him to a GP on May 31 for an ear infection, which developed into flu-like symptoms over a week later. She again took him to the doctor who told him to keep giving him Pamol.

When she started feeling run down herself the GP sent her for blood tests, but the GP didn't think tests were needed for the boy despite him being limp and dehydrated, the mother said.

"The GP told me not to bring him in again unless he gets limper," she said.

On Saturday June 13 he started vomiting blood and going into seizures.

An ambulance was called and a Starship medical team flew down that day and put him into an induced coma. A shunt was inserted in his head to relief brain pressure.

"We were told to say goodbye to him on the Sunday night," said his grandmother, who is a nurse.

But a donor liver was found to enable his transplant operation next day.

The boy, who had led a normal healthy life until his rapid deterioration into liver failure, now faces another four months in Starship hospital, with his mother staying with him while her husband looks after their two daughters at home.

"This is a life sentence for (the son). He has to be on medication for the rest of his life," the mother said.

Both mother and grandmother said there may be a need to educate GPs about the dangers of paracetamol when children were dehydrated.

- NZPA