Free Angel of Death by John Askill Page A

she would have to go back to the hospital straightaway.
    David left the surgery with the doctor’s voice ringing in his ears. ‘He said that, in twenty-four hours, there would be a remarkable recovery in her condition.’ Sue climbed behind the wheel of the couple’s Vauxhall Astra for the journey to Ward Four. David cradled Claire in his arms in the back seat as she gasped for air.
    Sue was desperately worried. ‘I was frightened shewould die. I thought perhaps we should have gone to the hospital earlier than we had. She was trying to cry, but she couldn’t get enough air to make any noise. She was just moaning, ruttling and gasping.’
    In Ward Four Claire was placed on a nebuliser, but it made no difference and, when they tried to take her blood pressure, Claire’s arm turned blue. They attached a heart monitor but the machine didn’t work.
    Nurse Allitt had been sitting at a desk as Claire arrived. Sue recognised her from the previous visit and remembered her as being very unfriendly towards them.
    â€˜I had run out of nappies and Nurse Allitt had brought them in. She didn’t say anything when she gave them to me, she just slammed them down on the table and walked off. All the other nurses had made a habit of picking Claire up, playing with her and, when she was in the bath, they would come into the bathroom and splash her and tip water over her head. Claire loved it. But once, when she was in the bath, Nurse Allitt came past and just walked by, and ignored Claire. I remember clear as day turning to Claire, and saying: “We don’t care if she doesn’t want to talk to you, sweetheart …” so when I saw her that day I knew I didn’t like her.’
    Sue finds it hard to think of Claire’s final few hours without shedding a tear. Time has done little to ease the pain. The nightmare began with specialist Dr Nelson Porter announcing that he proposed to insert a tube down Claire’s throat to open her airways. Sue couldn’t bear the prospectof watching and handed Claire to a nurse. It was 4.55pm, and Sue and David were told the routine procedure wouldn’t take too long. They left Claire in the treatment room and walked to the TV lounge to wait for news.
    The medical team prepared to give Claire a new drug which had to be administered in such precise amounts that the duty doctor went in search of paediatrician Dr Porter for guidance, leaving Claire in the treatment room with Nurse Allitt and another nurse.
    While he was gone Nurse Allitt agreed to stay while her colleague went down the corridor to tell Claire’s parents what was happening. Within seconds – even before the nurse had time to reach David and Sue Peck – Beverley Allitt cried for help from the room. She was shouting ‘Arrest, Arrest.’
    And when other nurses and doctors dashed to Claire’s bedside they found she had suffered a respiratory failure and was having trouble breathing. They gave her oxygen and Claire recovered quickly.
    David and Sue were on the verge of going to see what had happened when the ward sister, Barbara Barker, appeared. The news wasn’t good – the medical team was still working to improve her condition.
    Claire’s parents asked only one question: ‘Is she going to be all right …?’ The Sister didn’t say yes, and she didn’t say no. Instead, she told David and Sue she hoped Claire would recover. It wasn’t the answer Claire’s parents had wanted to hear.
    Sue recalls: ‘We were worried when she gave us our answer. Up to then we had never really imagined that she was going to die. My mum and dad had arrived by this time and they had expected to see Claire recovered.’
    As the fight to save Claire continued in the treatment room Sue, David and her parents paced the TV lounge, desperately anxious for reassurance. They lost all track of time.
    In the treatment room Dr Porter finally administered