A Perth hospital has denied neglecting a one-year-old Indigenous girl who died in its care, amid claims staff were racist and lied to the child's family.
The girl, whose family asked for her to be referred to as Kailee, was admitted to Perth Children's Hospital for treatment early last week.
Subscribe for FREE to the HealthTimes magazine
She died soon after in the Emergency Department as staff tried to resuscitate her.
The girl's mother, Charmain Blurton, on Tuesday claimed medical staff lied to her about her daughter's condition after she rushed her to the hospital for help.
"They're saying all sorts of bulls**t, they don't even know what it is," she told reporters during a press conference outside the hospital when asked what her daughter was diagnosed with.
FEATURED JOBS
Programmed Health Professionals
"It's hard, they should know what the f**k it is. This is a baby, man, not a life to play with.
"They just basically neglected my daughter ... because my daughter was killed in this hospital without being cared for."
Ms Blurton and her supporters also claimed the hospital was racist towards the family, amid claims the system was failing Indigenous Australians.
"They won't even look at us black people properly," she said.
"We're just devastated our girl wasn't looked after properly."
The hospital has disputed the allegations, saying staff declared a "code blue" and provided emergency resuscitation care to Kailee as soon as she arrived at the hospital.
"Firstly, and most importantly, on behalf of the Child and Adolescent Health Service, I express my deepest sympathy to the family at this extremely difficult time," Valerie Jovanovic, Child and Adolescent Health Service chief executive, said in a statement.
"While tragic, this is not a clinical incident, as timely and appropriate clinical care was provided."
Kailee started experiencing gastroenteritis symptoms on June 25 and her parents took her to a suburban medical clinic a day later.
Deaths in Custody Watch Committee of WA deputy chairman Desmond Blurton said the general practitioner treated Kailee for tonsillitis and placed her on a lactose-free diet.
"The parents felt the overall treatment from the GP was not satisfactory," he said.
On June 27 Kailee's condition deteriorated and Ms Blurton and the child's father, Cody Yappo, decided to take her to the hospital.
"They rushed her straight into the Emergency Department and the next day we lost Bubba," said Mr Blurton, who is Ms Blurton's uncle.
"Again, Aboriginal people have become victims of a racist medical system."
He alleged the GP had mistreated and abused the child and called for the incident to be investigated.
The couple's other daughter is also a patient at the hospital, with Mr Blurton saying she is suffering the same symptoms as her older sister had before she died.
The incident comes several months after a coroner found the hospital failed to adequately care for Aishwarya Aswath, who died in its care on Easter Saturday 2021.
Staff did not detect that the seven-year-old girl was dying of sepsis, and she was left in a waiting room for more than 90 minutes, despite her parents' pleas to escalate care as her condition deteriorated.
The family later said hospital staff were rude and dismissive.