A heartbroken mum has sued an NHS trust for medical negligence after her four-year-old son died because of a bungled 111 call.
Panic stricken Sherry Keane rang the health advice line after little Jaydan-Lee developed a rash, vomited, appeared lethargic and began rasping for breath.
But she put him to bed with calpol after an "abrupt and rude" 111 call-handler failed to realise how seriously ill he was, talked over the terrified mum and didn't call an ambulance to respond within eight minutes as she should have.
Jaydan-Lee was found unresponsive in bed the next day and paramedics rushed to the scene after the family dialled 999.
The little boy was given CPR and rushed to Aintree University Hospital but he was pronounced dead.
A post-mortem revealed the little boy had died of meningococcal septicaemia.
The grieving mum decided to sue North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust after discovering Jaydan-Lee would have made a full recovery if an ambulance had been sent by the 111 handler.
The Trust admitted medical negligence and Sherry, 28, was awarded £15,000 compensation.
The 111 handler - who was not medically trained - kept her job and was paid while she was given extra training and then re-instated.
Sherry, from Liverpool, said: "It's disgusting that she has been given a second chance,' says Sherry, of Liverpool.
"My little boy hasn't got a second chance - he's not here because she didn't do her job properly.
"She was rude, and didn't seem to care about my son or his condition.
"She talked over me, kept interrupting and was dismissive as if she just wanted the call to end.
"I was in a state, totally freaked out and worried about my little boy and her manner made me feel like I was a paranoid mother who shouldn't be wasting her time.
"She didn't listen to me. If she had, my little boy would still be here today. I haven't received an apology from her and I can't believe she went back to work as if nothing happened.
"I will never call 111 again - they failed my little boy.
"No amount of money can bring my little boy back. But the trust has changed its policy and now the call handlers have to be medically trained.
"It's too late for my little boy, but I hope my actions will stop another family having to go through what I had to."
Jaydan-Lee began to feel unwell after bumping his head at a bus stop as he travelled home from visiting his nan with single mum Sherry.
She said: "He was a boisterous little boy and was looking around as we waited for the bus and turned and bumped his head. There wasn't a lump or cut on his forehead, just a little red mark, so I wasn't worried."
He seemed fine but the next afternoon he began to feel unwell, falling asleep as he watched TV.
When he woke he had a runny nose, "raspy" sounding chest, and Sherry presumed he was coming down with a cold.
Sherry said: "I gave him some calpol but as I was taking him upstairs, he was sick, and I put him to bed and kept an eye on him.
"Later he developed a temperature and wanted to cuddle. I stripped him down to a vest and underwear and gave him some juice."
Sherry, who works for mobile operator 3, thought he would perk up but became worried when she noticed a blotchy rash on his legs.
Eventually, she called 111 just after midnight on 13 June 2016.
Jaydan-Lee was groaning in the background as a panicked Sherry told the operator that he had vomited, had a rash, was sleepy and fighting to breathe.
She insisted that he looked poorly, but when she tried to tell the handler about his high temperature and that his back was cold the operator talked over her.
At the end of the nine-minute call, the handler failed to identify that Jaydan-Lee needed urgent treatment and didn't send for an ambulance.
She didn't make sure that Sherry had understood that she should take her little boy to hospital.
Sherry said: "I thought she said if he deteriorated I should take him.
"I didn't hear her say that I should take him within an hour. If I had he would have survived."
An ambulance wasn't called until the following lunchtime when Jaydan-Lee - who his mother thought was asleep - became unresponsive.
He'd had a cardiac arrest brought on by septic shock caused by meningococcal bacteria.
It was possibly triggered by the bump on his head at the bus stop.
Sherry said: "In the ambulance a paramedic was still doing chest compressions but after a while at the hospital the doctor asked me if I wanted them to stop.
"I told them as a mother I never wanted them to give up but if it wasn't going to bring my baby back, I wanted them to stop pounding on his little chest.
"I just couldn't believe that my little boy had been running around the day before, asking for his juice and wanting to play outside and now he was dead.
"I began screaming but no noise came out."
At an inquest into his death, recording a narrative verdict, the coroner said: "During this consultation, the adviser failed to identity, explore and action several red flags.
"She failed to probe and access the information required in order to complete a proper assessment.
"It was quite evident the adviser did not listen and question effectively.
"If appropriate questioning and probing was carried out it is likely the consultation would have resulted in an ambulance being called with a red 2 response time of eight minutes."
The finding was backed up by an internal investigation at the trust.
"The handler 'did not question or listen effectively during the call. There were a number of instances where the required answers to reach the correct outcome were given by the caller but HA1[the operator] failed to recognise or extend the questions," a report stated.
Dr Parviz Habibi PHd, previously consultant in paediatric intensive care and respiratory medicine at St Mary's Hospital and Clinical Reader at Imperial College, London, said in a report that if a "proper assessment" by the 111 caller had been carried out and an ambulance called or the mother had taken Jaydan-Lee to hospital he would have survived.
Sherry has decided to speak out now as she finally feels strong enough following the two-and-a-half year fight against the trust.
"It's not closure but at least I know the truth," she said. "It doesn't stop me grieving for my baby every single day.
"His illness didn't kill him - that 111 handler's failure to call him an ambulance did.
"I wish I'd trusted my mother's instincts and taken him straight to A&E, but I didn't and now I have to pay the price of losing my little boy.
"I couldn't grieve all the time I was trying to find out the truth. I had to focus on that and once it was over I was overwhelmed by pain and hurt.
"It was so raw. Now I'm ready to speak - Jaydan-Lee isn't here and so I have to tell this story.
"I'm his voice and I need to make sure that other families don't go through anything like this."
A spokeswoman for North West Ambulance Service told the Mail it was "so very sorry" for his death.
"A full investigation was undertaken following Jaydan-Lee's death which did identify areas of learning for the trust and improvements have since been made.
"On this occasion, we fell below the standards that we expect and we are deeply sorry."
