Under consideration PE2272: Introduce legislation or statutory guidance to improve patient safety for children in Scotland
Calling on the Scottish Parliament to urge the Scottish Government to introduce a national patient safety standard requiring abnormal blood gas or blood test results in children to be repeated, verified or formally reviewed before discharge decisions are made when those results have been attributed to sample quality, environmental factors or other concerns regarding reliability. This campaign is known as ‘Lia’s Law’, established in memory of Lia Robertson.
Background information
In December 2023, my daughter Lia Robertson was admitted to hospital aged just 3 months, with clear red flag symptoms including breathing difficulty and low oxygen levels. Blood tests showed a significantly raised lactate level – over three times the normal upper limit - a key marker for sepsis, but this result was attributed to poor sample quality and not repeated before she was discharged home.
Within hours, Lia deteriorated rapidly and was readmitted with septic shock. During emergency care, a needle slip led to the amputation of her leg; tragically, she never recovered and passed away.
Reviews confirmed this was a missed opportunity – repeating the test, adjusting for cold conditions or observing her longer would have led to earlier diagnosis and treatment. NHS say Lia may not have deteriorated as quickly, or suffered limb loss, had she remained in hospital. The health board has made changes, but there is no consistent national rule applying across all of Scotland.
This is not about removing clinical judgement from healthcare professionals. It is about ensuring that clinical judgement is supported by verified test results and creating a mandatory safety check, referred to as ‘Lia’s Law’ in memory of Lia Robertson, so that no other family suffers what we have endured.
46 signatures
This petition is now under consideration
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