Mum's 'life sentence of pain' after death of nine-year-old son

Dylan Cope died a week after he was taken to A&E by his parents when he complained of abdominal pain. He was sent home with suspected flu just days before he died after being diagnosed with a ruptured appendix. His mother Corinne tells Lois McCarthy of her continuing torment and campaign for better care

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Dylan Cope died in December 2022, Following a damning inquest report which highlighted 'chaotic and shambolic' hospital failings, Dylan's parents Corinne and Laurence Cope, inset, spoke movingly about their son

THREE years after the tragic death of her nine-year-old son Dylan, Corinne Cope continues to campaign for changes she believes could prevent other families experiencing avoidable harm and loss.

Dylan Cope, from Newport, died on December 14, 2022 after developing sepsis caused by a perforated appendix - a condition considered extremely high-risk and life-threatening.

He had been taken to A&E eight days earlier with abdominal pain, after being referred by a GP who noted “query appendicitis”, a note that was not read by hospital staff.

Dylan was discharged from Grange University Hospital, Cwmbran, on December 7 and was not readmitted until December 10, following a series of failures that delayed his return to hospital as his condition deteriorated.

An inquest heard that Dylan should have remained in hospital for further assessment.

In May 2024, senior coroner Caroline Saunders concluded that “a number of individual errors” led to Dylan being wrongly discharged, amounting to “a gross failure of basic care.”

In a narrative conclusion, she said Dylan's death would have been avoided had he not been discharged and was “contributed to by neglect.”

Mum Corinne has continued to campaign for improvements in care procedures since Dylan's death.

"The only reason I've done it is because it didn't already exist," she said. "I felt that not enough was being done when I learned of the avoidable harm and death from sepsis and the scale of it.

"Dylan and many others like him - their lives and preventable deaths - are not in vain. It can't all be for nothing."