Burns said: “I witnessed that the emergency department and medical registrars were clearly not happy that the intensive care registrar would not accept referral of William.
Appearing at the inquest into her son’s death, Burns said: “It is impossible for words to describe adequately the pain of this immense loss and the feelings of betrayal that I feel about William’s death and the aftermath.”.
In her statement read to the court, she said: “From my direct experience as a witness, plus what I’ve seen in the notes and in statements, it’s my opinion that the medical staff involved in William’s care failed to observe him in any clinically useful way.”.
William Hewes, 22, a history and politics student, died on 21 January 2023 of meningococcal septicaemia at Homerton hospital in east London, where his mother, Dr Deborah Burns, had worked for more than 20 years.
Bow coroner’s court heard that Burns has been “unable to work” at the hospital since witnessing a series of medical blunders at her son’s bedside.
