AN INVESTIGATION is under way after a five-month-old baby died hours after being discharged from hospital.
Leah Carroll was taken to St. John's hospital in Livingston by parents Tanya Yeats, 23, and Robert Carroll, 21, in the early hours of Saturday morning after developing a rash on her stomach.
However, the infant was sent home less than three hours later with doctors advising her parents to administer Calpol and children's painkillers.
At 7am on Saturday morning, Leah's condition deteriorated as she started to vomit and was described as being "limp and roasting".
Her parents phoned the children's unit at St. John's where they were urged to return to the hospital, and it was then that staff noticed the rash had spread further and changed colour.
She was rushed to the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh by ambulance and was taken into theatre, but around 2.40pm staff told her parents that Leah was not going to recover.
Less than an hour later, at around 3.25pm on Saturday, Leah passed away, and a post mortem examination into the death confirmed she died of meningococcal septicaemia.
NHS Lothian have now launched a probe into the incident.
Dr Edward Doyle, Medical Director, Royal Hospital for Sick Children, Edinburgh said: "Our thoughts and condolences are with the family.
"We are investigating the circumstances and would urge the family to get in touch directly so we can discuss any concerns they have in detail."
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