The grieving parents of three babies who died after contaminated food while in hospital have insisted that justice has not yet been served after the pharmaceutical company that supplied the batches was fined £ 1.2 million.
Relatives of the children, who were among 19 infected with Bacillus Cereus bacteriemia in nine hospitals in England, said the fine would be a drop in the ocean for ITH Pharma, which they accused of continuing normally.
Yousef Al-Harbush was nine days old when he died at St Thomas’ Hospital in central London on June 1, 2014, after developing sepsis. He and his twin brother, Abdullah, were born by emergency caesarean section in St. Thomas on the 32nd week of gestation in May 2014. While in intensive care, they were both fed intravenously. Until Abdullah was affected, Yousef died.
Tameria Aldrich, whose twin sister Tia also survived, died nine days after Yousef was transferred to St. Thomas from Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, while Oscar Barker died at Rosie’s maternity hospital in Cambridge.
The 19 children who were infected received ITH Pharma’s Parenteral Nutrition (TPN) between 27 May and 2 June 2014 as food directly into their bloodstream because they were unable to feed themselves.
Prosecutors say ITH Pharma’s failure to conduct a proper risk assessment led to Yousef’s death, although it is not alleged that TPN caused the deaths of the other two babies.
On Friday, Judge Deborah Taylor of the Southwark Court ordered the company, which had a turnover of £ 66.8 million by September 2020, to pay a fine of £ 1.215 million and costs of £ 291,000, after previously pleading guilty to guilty of three crimes.
But she said: “I have not found that the cause of Yousef’s death has been proven by criminal standards. She added that for legal purposes, the bacteremia did not necessarily cause real harm, but the company’s processes risk “serious harm and / or death”.
Raaid Sakija, Yousef’s father, said: “The horrible memories still haunt us and will last forever.” He added that Yousef Gada Sakija’s mother “feels the weight of losing her son” every time she looks at their surviving child. “This company that did this to us will not even feel the fine. It is common for them. Is that fair? “
Artie Shah, a medical negligence lawyer at Fieldfisher, the firm that represents Yousef, Tamerie and Oscar’s families in civil proceedings, said: “ITH Pharma has been operating normally for eight years. Yousef’s parents have been living in hell for eight years. And the company has not yet admitted to causing Yousef’s death.
Tameria’s mother, Vicki Golden, and Oscar’s mother, Holly Barker, cried as the sentence was handed down.
A spokesman for ITH Pharma said: “We at ITH Pharma, first of all, express our deepest condolences to the families of the patients affected by the events of eight years ago.
“We accept the fine imposed by the court after pleading guilty to a single regulatory breach for failing to carry out an appropriate and sufficient risk assessment under the 1999 Health and Safety Management Ordinance and to two regulatory breaches. under the Medicines Act 1968 for the supply of a medicinal product on 27 May 2014, which is not of the nature or quality specified in the prescription.
“ITH Pharma has been a leading manufacturer of complete parenteral nutrition (TPN) and other medicinal products for many years and the events of 27 May 2014 were completely exceptional.”
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