Mother's anger as girl, 6, dies two days after being discharged from hospital with tonsillitis

Ross McGuinness

A mother is demanding answers after her six-year-old daughter died two days after being discharged from hospital with tonsillitis.

Maya Siek died in her stepfather's arms at the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Kent, just before last Christmas.

The day before she passed away, she told her mother: "Mummy, I think I'm going to die."

She had previously been discharged from the hospital with tonsillitis, even though her mother, Magdalena Wisniewska, 26, insisted she was gravely ill after she collapsed twice.

Maya's heart stopped beating after she suffered acute myocardial necrosis, but doctors have so far been unable to explain why.

Her family said an independent consultant paediatrician told them it was likely influenza that developed into sepsis.

Maya died on 21 December after being readmitted to the hospital

She had fallen ill on 18 December, when she was tired, weak and cold to touch, and had lost her appetite. The next day Ms Wisniewska booked an appointment with a GP, but as they prepared to leave home, Maya collapsed.

She was taken to the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Hospital, where she was diagnosed with tonsillitis.

Maya Siek. See SWNS story SWLStonsilitis. A grieving mum told how her six-year-old girl died two days after she was discharged from hospital with tonsillitis. Tragic youngster Maya Siek’s mother insisted her young girl was gravely unwell after she collapsed twice, but she was still discharged. Two days later the “kind and helpful” child died in her stepfather’s arms, shortly before Christmas last year. Her heart stopped beating after she suffered acute myocardial necrosis - death of the organ’s cells - and pathologists have been unable to establish why.
Maya died in hospital after she fell seriously ill before Christmas last year. (SWNS) (Magdalena Wisniewska / SWNS)
Maya Siek. See SWNS story SWLStonsilitis. A grieving mum told how her six-year-old girl died two days after she was discharged from hospital with tonsillitis. Tragic youngster Maya Siek’s mother insisted her young girl was gravely unwell after she collapsed twice, but she was still discharged. Two days later the “kind and helpful” child died in her stepfather’s arms, shortly before Christmas last year. Her heart stopped beating after she suffered acute myocardial necrosis - death of the organ’s cells - and pathologists have been unable to establish why.
Maya's mother is demanding answers after she died in hospital in Kent. (SWNS) (Magdalena Wisniewska / SWNS)

However, before she could go home she collapsed again.

Ms Wisniewska said: "I asked the doctor about Maya's tummy pain, white tongue, pale colour and her body being freezing cold to touch, but he said this was normal with tonsilitis.

"Maya was also vomiting in the hospital bed, so they gave her an anti-sickness injection and we came back home."

Maya, a pupil at Holy Trinity & St John's Primary School in Margate, had a sleepless night at home and continued to complain of stomach pain, thirst and dizziness.

The next morning, her mother called 999 because Maya was too weak to stand unaided, and she was returned to the hospital by ambulance.

After a negative COVID test, she was diagnosed with influenza and put on a drip.

Later that day, she was admitted to a children's ward with serious stomach pain, having been unable to urinate for two days.

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Maya Siek. See SWNS story SWLStonsilitis. A grieving mum told how her six-year-old girl died two days after she was discharged from hospital with tonsillitis. Tragic youngster Maya Siek’s mother insisted her young girl was gravely unwell after she collapsed twice, but she was still discharged. Two days later the “kind and helpful” child died in her stepfather’s arms, shortly before Christmas last year. Her heart stopped beating after she suffered acute myocardial necrosis - death of the organ’s cells - and pathologists have been unable to establish why.
Maya died in her stepfather's arms in hospital. (SWNS) (Magdalena Wisniewska / SWNS)

Ms Wisniewska said staff told her that Maya would be fine to return home the following day. She tried to raise with them that Maya was behaving strangely, at one point even saying she could see monkeys that weren't there.

On 21 December, after a sleepless night in hospital, Ms Wisniewska said she warned clinical staff that her daughter was suffering from shaky breathing, discoloured skin and disorientation.

At 3pm, as staff attempted to take a blood sample while Maya was helped by her stepfather, her heart stopped beating.

"After a few seconds Maya went silent and my partner found out she had stopped breathing," said Ms Wisniewska.

"At this point no one else even reacted as if something had happened, but [my partner] asked for help.

Maya Siek with her mother Magdalena. See SWNS story SWLStonsilitis. A grieving mum told how her six-year-old girl died two days after she was discharged from hospital with tonsillitis. Tragic youngster Maya Siek’s mother insisted her young girl was gravely unwell after she collapsed twice, but she was still discharged. Two days later the “kind and helpful” child died in her stepfather’s arms, shortly before Christmas last year. Her heart stopped beating after she suffered acute myocardial necrosis - death of the organ’s cells - and pathologists have been unable to establish why.
Ms Wisniewsk with her late daughter Maya. (SWNS) (Magdalena Wisniewska / SWNS)

"Then all the other staff gathered in our room. They found out Maya's heart had stopped beating.

"They started resuscitation to save her and her heart came back for a few seconds, but then it stopped beating again. This time Maya passed away.

"On the day before she passed she was very pale in colour and she said to me, 'Mummy, I think I'm going to die,' and I said, 'Don’t say that, Maya.'"

Ms Wisniewska's partner, Raj Blande, said: "Maya took her last breath in my hands. I just can't get over it – I don't think I ever will.

"Nothing can bring us our daughter back and I know our lives will never be the same."

An inquest into Maya's death was opened last month, but it was adjourned until 25 September for a review to be completed.

A view of the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (QEQM) Hospital in Margate, Kent, part of the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust. The Government is due to respond to independent review into maternity services at the NHS trust after a number of babies died. (Photo by Gareth Fuller/PA Images via Getty Images)
Maya died at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital in Margate, Kent. (PA Images via Getty Images) (Gareth Fuller - PA Images via Getty Images)

Jane Dickson, the chief nursing officer at East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust, said: "I am so sorry to Maya's family for their loss.

"We are undertaking a thorough investigation into Maya’s care to assist us in providing answers to Maya's family as well as ensuring we know where we need to do things differently and ensure lessons are learned.

"We will continue to work with and update Maya’s family as part of the investigation."

Ms Wisniewska said she has barely left the family's home in Margate since the Maya's death, who has also left behind her six-year-old brother, Nathan.

The family have decided to keep up the Christmas tree Maya decorated in their living room just days before she died.

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