THE mother of a boy who died after doctors failed to spot that he was suffering from meningitis is facing a legal fight for compensation after an NHS Trust denied liability for his death.

William Cressey succumbed to the deadly virus in 2005 after being discharged from Darlington Memorial Hospital.

Staff sent him home without a full examination, and he later slipped into a coma and died.

At the ten-year-old’s inquest last October, coroner David Mitford described his treatment as “startlingly inadequate”.

William’s mother, Cheryl, is suing County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust for clinical negligence. The trust denies liability. Her solicitor, Kris Inskip, of the Manchester- based litigation specialist Pannone LLP, said she was seeking compensation for the loss of her son, and for the distress caused by his death.

“She is struggling quite considerably,” said Mr Inskip.

“She has always been in distress since William died, and she has gone downhill since the inquest.

“She is entitled to bereavement damages for the loss of her child, and there is also a claim for her own psychiatric injuries. It is quite a considerable claim. She has suffered very badly.”

William, of Hurworth Place, near Darlington, was taken to hospital with neck pains and headaches on February 27, 2005.

At the inquest, staff admitted that they thought he was suffering from a viral infection or bleeding to the brain.

He was kept in the children’s ward overnight and examined the next morning.

Meningitis was ruled out at that stage, which the coroner said was a “reasonable decision”

based on his condition at that time.

The hearing heard how staff were told to monitor William throughout the day to see if he was fit enough to go home that evening, but there were only scant records that he had been checked at all. Coroner David Mitford said William’s headaches and high temperature could have continued, but it was impossible to tell because of the “almost total lack of adequate documentation of any observations”.

That night, a senior house officer discharged William without examining him. Mr Mitford said that if William had been checked, vital signs indicating the onset of meningitis could have been spotted.

At home, William’s condition deteriorated rapidly, and when his mother took him back to hospital hours later, a doctor wanted to give him antibiotics. He called a senior consultant at home at 10.15pm to check if he should do so, but the inquest was told he was overruled.

William was eventually given antibiotics at 11.30pm, once blood tests confirmed that meningitis was likely. His condition worsened, and he eventually slipped into a coma. He was transferred to Newcastle General Hospital, but never regained consciousness.

He died on March 1.

At the inquest at Newcastle Civic Centre, independent meningitis expert Professor Nicholas Rutter said the strain of the disease that infected William was severe and quite rare. He added that while antibiotics may not have saved his life, they would have improved his chances.

At the end of the five-day inquest, the coroner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes “to which a delay in giving antibiotic treatment for meningitis may have contributed”.

Mr Mitford said that doctors and nurses missed a series of chances to give William the antibiotics needed to save his life. In a detailed three-page conclusion, Mr Mitford ruled that the actions of the nurses who had been told to monitor and record the Darlington schoolboy’s condition were “startlingly inadequate”.

He said the involvement of the doctor who first discharged William was “marginal and unsatisfactory”.

He also said the senior consultant who ruled against giving him antibiotics when he was readmitted to casualty missed a “clear opportunity”

to help William.

After the inquest, William’s mother, Cheryl Cressey, condemned the treatment received by her son, describing it as “barbaric and inhuman”.

She said: “No child should ever suffer the severe agony, anxiety and fear that William suffered and no child should ever suffer such a terribly horrific death in a British NHS hospital.”

A hearing into the case is expected to take place at Darlington County Court at the end of the year.

A spokesman for the health trust said last night: “As this is now subject to legal proceedings, the trust is unable to comment.”