NORWICH, England — A 2-year old girl died from meningitis after a paramedic wrongly told her parents that she was suffering from swine flu.
Georgia Keeling’s mother, Natasha Keeling, called for an ambulance in August 2009 after calling a swine flu hotline that told her Georgia probably did not have swine flu.
Natasha said that a paramedic arrived at their household and sent the ambulance away because he misdiagnosed Georgia, according to the Daily Mail.
“They gave me some Tamiflu and I was told all I had to do was get her temperature down,” Natasha said.
But Georgia continued to get worse throughout the day: She stopped breathing, and her parents were unable to resuscitate her.
Natasha called for another ambulance, but by the time Georgia arrived at the hospital, she was pronounced dead.
A post-mortem examination revealed Georgia had died from meningitis.
Paramedic Patricia Sweet, who examined Georgia, said she ruled out meningitis because her rash disappeared when pressed.
“Swine flu was at pandemic proportions and most clinicians at the time, if presented with those symptoms would have come up with the same diagnosis,” she said. The East of England Ambulance Service has issued an apology to the family.