A two-year-old boy died after a brain tumour went undiagnosed for several weeks, despite him being seen by a number of doctors.
Max Earley’s parents felt they were literally ‘watching him die’ as they waited for medics to determine what was wrong with him.
The youngster, from Harefield, near Hillingdon in west London, fell ill in August 2012 when he started repeatedly vomiting.
Despite being seen by several doctors and being transferred to another hospital, his tumour went undetected until just days before he died the following month.
A series of things ‘went wrong’ between Max being admitted and his diagnosis – including an original CT scan being read incorrectly by a radiologist, an inquest heard.
Westminster coroner’s court heard that, after several visits to his GP, his mother Caroline Earley took him to A&E at Hillingdon Hospital in Uxbridge, west London, where he was admitted.
The inquest heard the paediatrician who saw Max suspected he may have a brain tumour and ordered a CT scan, but it was incorrectly deemed clear by a radiologist.
Doctors then thought his illness was the result of a gastro-intestinal problem.
By mid-September Max was admitted to the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, by which time he had lost weight and was pale, weak, moaning and sensitive to light.
His condition worsened and Max was rushed to Great Ormond Street Hospital in the early hours of September 24, where a brain tumour was diagnosed.
An operation removed some of the tumour, but Max never recovered and he died on September 28 2012, aged 27 months.
The inquest continues.