Public inquiry call after boy’s death

Feb 9 2008 by Robin Turner, Western Mail

A LEADING Welsh politician has called for a public inquiry into the death of a boy killed by a treatable condition that doctors missed.

Nick Bourne, leader of the Conservatives in the National Assembly, called for a probe into the death of 10-year-old Robbie Powell.

Robbie’s father Will Powell had to endure the heartbreaking sight of watching his son die in Swansea’s Morriston Hospital 17 years ago. Ever since, he has vowed to find out why his son’s condition was not picked up sooner.

Several GPs and doctors failed to spot an adrenal gland condition, Addison’s disease, which could easily have been treated.

Mr Powell said, “I watched Robbie in his last moments and I always told him I would get to the bottom of what happened.”

Mr Powell has been fighting for an inquiry into how doctors and other officials handled the case and how police looked at his allegations. He is still waiting for the General Medical Council to rule on his complaint.

Mr Bourne said in a letter to First Minister Rhodri Morgan, “We cannot allow something like this to happen without a public inquiry.”

The long-running case has its origins in Christmas 1989, when Robbie doubled-up with pain at his Ystradgynlais home. A hospital test for Addison’s disease was ordered but never done.

Over the next four months he was seen seven times by five family doctors. He eventually died after his desperate father took him to hospital and Addison’s was diagnosed only after his death.

In May 1996, the former West Glamorgan Health Authority admitted liability. The Powells received £80,000 damages but used it in legal costs to press for police action.

Four years later, Avon and Somerset Police looked at the way Dyfed Powys Police handled the case and found “institutional incompetence”. In April 2004, an inquest jury in Swansea returned a verdict of death by natural causes aggravated by neglect.

And, just two months ago, the Independent Police Complaints Commission asked Dyfed Powys Police to send a letter of apology to Mr Powell and his wife over its handling of the allegations.

A Welsh Assembly Government spokesman said, “The First Minister has received the letter. He is awaiting an update and will respond in due course.”

A spokeswoman for Dyfed Powys Police said, “We note the correspondence between Mr Bourne and the First Minister’s office.”

A spokesman for the GMC said, “We are aware of concerns about a number of doctors relating to the death of Robbie Powell. Our enquiries are continuing. We have a duty of confidentiality and won’t comment until it is appropriate to do so.”