A five-year-old girl died just four days after undergoing a routine tonsillectomy, an inquest has heard. Amber Milnes, from St Just in Roseland, Cornwall, had the procedure at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro on 5 April 2023 to treat sleep apnoea.
Amber's parents, Lewis and Sereta Milnes, had expected her to remain in hospital overnight due to her cyclical vomiting syndrome, a rare condition causing violent retching. However, she was discharged at about 9pm on the day of the operation. Early on 6 April, Amber began vomiting and was readmitted later that evening.
Cornwall Coroner's Court heard that Amber suffered a fatal haemorrhage at about 3am on 9 April, likely caused by an infection in the part of her throat where her tonsils had been removed. Dr Andrew Bamber, a consultant in paediatric and perinatal pathology, gave the cause of death as a massive haemorrhage with aspiration of blood, surgical site infection and enlarged tonsils.
The inquest heard that Amber's intravenous line failed at about midnight on 7 April, and she was administered medication orally, which she could not keep down due to vomiting. Intravenous medication was restarted at 2.45pm on 8 April, meaning she had not received fluids, pain relief, antibiotics or anti-sickness drugs for 14 hours.
Kel Anyanwu, the surgeon who carried out the operation, said he had worked at the hospital for 25 years and had never seen a death from a tonsillectomy before. He confirmed that the consent form signed by Amber's parents did not mention the risk of death and described her case as 'unique'. The inquest continues.
