12-year-old boy dies due to an unnoticible infection

A 12-year-old boy died due to a scrape received in gym class.

Rory Staunton was just diving for a basketball in gym class and scraped his arm. His family never thought too much about it.

Rory’s mother Orlaith Stauton said the night after he had scraped his arm he started to have odd symptoms.  “A little after midnight I heard him in the bathroom throwing up,” she told Today. “So I went in. He was screaming with a pain in his leg. He said ‘it’s my leg, mom. It’s my leg.’”

Rory’s parent took him to his pediatrician the next day.

According to the New York Times, they were told it was the flu and he was given fluids at NYU Langone Medical Center, told to take Tylenol, and sent home.

His parents did not know though that Rory’s white blood count was very high because he was sent home before his labs had come back.

“Nobody said anything that night,” Ms. Staunton said. “None of you followed up the next day on that kid, and he’s at home, dying on the couch?”

The following night the Orlaith family was back in the ER and this time things had taken a turn for the worse.

“Your son is seriously ill,” the doctor said.  “How seriously?” Rory’s mother, Orlaith Staunton, asked.  “Gravely ill,” he said.

The diagnosis was sepsis. The treatment for it would include antibiotics or antivirals along with therapies to combat inflammation.

It was too late for any of these and Rory died on April 1, 2012 in the ICU.

His pediatrician declined to comment and the NYU Langone Medical Center issued a statement “Our deepest and most heartfelt sympathies go out to the Staunton family. We have already implemented corrective actions to address the delivery of care to our ED patients. We have extended several invitations to the family to meet with us when they are ready.”

Rory’s family has created a website in his memory and also to educate people on the symptoms of sepsis.