A DOCTOR who treated baby Elijah Slavkovic on the night he fell ill failed to immediately give antibiotics or arrange for a senior doctor to examine him, an inquest into his death has heard.
Elijah was three months old when he contracted bacterial meningitis on a family holiday on the NSW south coast in 2009.
He waited several hours after his first visit to Pambula Hospital for potentially life-saving antibiotics to be administered, the inquest heard.
From Pambula he was taken to hospitals in Bega, Canberra and Sydney, before finally being airlifted to Melbourne's Royal Children's Hospital. He died six weeks later.
Dr Tin Myint was the only doctor on duty in Bega District Valley Hospital the night Elijah was admitted, Parramatta Coroner's Court heard on Tuesday.
Dr Myint told the inquest he had not been expecting Elijah on the night of April 24, 2009.
"Elijah's eyes were open, and he was dry, and also he (had) a lethargic look," he told the court, adding he had been told the child had been vomiting for hours.
The infant's temperature soared to 39.1 degrees, the court heard, but Dr Myint was not sure whether the child's symptoms were caused by a viral infection, bacterial infection or dehydration.
Counsel assisting the inquest, Peggy Dwyer, said guidelines for treating potentially septic infants of three months included seeking a "senior review early" and intravenous antibiotics.
Dr Myint told the court he suggested a senior doctor on call in Bega should come to the hospital, but he didn't insist on it.
Even though Dr Myint first saw Elijah at approximately 11.40 pm the antibiotics weren't given until the early hours of the next day, possibly around 2.30 am, the inquest heard.
He said he asked a nurse on duty to take blood and urine samples before administering antibiotics.
Dr Erika Jaensch was on call for Bega Hospital the night Elijah was admitted.
She gave evidence on Tuesday that when she received a call from Dr Frank Simonson, the Pambula Hospital doctor who first treated Elijah, his description of the child's symptoms reassured her.
But the baby was later described to her as febrile, floppy and lethargic, she said.
Dr Jaensch later agreed Elijah's symptoms were very dangerous for a child so young and said she would have administered antibiotics as soon as possible without necessarily waiting.
"I would have collected what I could and then administered antibiotics," she said.
Dr Jaensch added she specifically asked Dr Myint if she should attend Bega Hospital in person but was told she wasn't needed.
The inquest continues before Deputy State Coroner Carmel Forbes.
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