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An inquest is being held into Alina Sarag’s death from tuberculosis, following concerns that the family sought help from multiple key healthcare providers across Birmingham and no one was able to make the diagnosis.
A 15-year-old girl died of tuberculosis after her general practitioner allegedly dismissed her symptoms as “lovesickness,” her father said.
An inquest in Birmingham, England, is investigating why multiple doctors failed to properly diagnose Alina Sarag with the curable disease.
The teen had been treated for tuberculosis in 2009, but fell ill again in July 2010 after returning from a trip to Pakistan. She was treated at four hospitals between August and October 2010, after experiencing vomiting and sudden weight loss, but a sputum test for TB was not carried out at any point, the BBC reported.
Doctors who saw Alina misdiagnosed her with “travelers’ diarrhea,” a chest infection and a viral infection, Sky News reported.
The girl's father claims that one general practitioner, Dr. Sharad Shripadrao Pandit, said her symptoms were the result of mental health problems.
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Alina Sarag’s parents, Sulton Sarag and Farhat Mahmooda
"She found it very distressing he was suggesting she was lovesick for a boy," the girl's father, Sultan Sarag, 43, told Birmingham Coroner's Court Monday, according to the Telegraph newspaper. "He said all the problems were in her head and she should see a psychiatrist or spiritual healer."
Sarag told the inquest that his daughter was vomiting up to 10 times a day and was so weak she had to be carried into bed, the Telegraph reported.
But Pandit was so confident that the girl's problems were psychological he refused to test her for TB, her father claimed. Instead, the doctor allegedly said Alina was just faking sickness to force her dad to stay home and take care of her.
NEWSTEAM/ANITA MARIC / NEWSTEAM.CO.UK / N
An inquest is being held into Alina Sarag’s death from tuberculosis, following concerns that the family sought help from multiple key healthcare providers across Birmingham and no one was able to make the diagnosis.
Doctors at Birmingham Children's Hospital also allegedly dismissed Alina's symptoms as “a psychological issue,” Metro UK reported.
Alina developed trouble breathing and died of cardiac arrest on Jan. 6, 2011. A pathologist told the inquest that Alina's lungs were found to be severely diseased after her death, and called it one of the worst cases of TB he had ever seen, according to Sky News.
The inquest is ongoing this week and is expected to call 20 witnesses.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/girl-15-died-tuberculosis-misdiagnosed-lovesickness-father-article-1.1079211#ixzz1yTKiHJPi
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