Leukaemia Foundation boss Chris Tanti says Sandipan Dhar’s death must result in diagnosis improvements

The “incredibly sad” and potentially preventable death of toddler Sandipan Dhar must act as a catalyst for improvements to blood cancer diagnoses across the health sector. That is the view of Leukaemia Foundation boss Chris Tanti, who said he was left heartbroken but not shocked by the failure of multiple medical professionals to spot the infant’s critical condition. Sandipan’s worried parents attended the Key Largo Medical Centre in Clarkson three times in the fortnight before he died because they were worried about his long-running mild fever. Those visits included requests for a blood test, with a referral finally granted on March 22. Sandipan was taken to Joondalup Health Campus immediately after the referral was handed over, but doctors at the hospital decided the simple diagnostic test was not necessary. He died of acute lymphoblastic leukaemia at the same hospital on his second presentation two days later. “I’m incredibly sad for the Dhar family,” Mr Tanti said. “Really, really sad for the family. “I guess from my point of view, we have to do better as a health care system.” Mr Tanti said cases like Sandipan’s — that resulted in a patient dying without treatment — were rare but “occurred from time to time” because of the “complexity” in blood cancer presentations. “The symptoms can mimic a whole lot of other more common health problems like the flu and COVID,” he said. “This is a tragedy for the Dhar family, but lots of other people have found themselves in situations where diagnosis has been delayed because a test isn’t done or might not necessarily give the result expected.” Common symptoms include fever, night sweats, inflamed lymph glands and general lethargy. Mr Tanti said if those kinds of ailments weren’t associated with a known illness and didn’t resolve within three or four days, it was a red flag. “If you recognise these signs or symptoms in yourself or your child, it is important to go to a GP and get a test ordered and explain to that GP that you have particular concerns,” he said. “The importance of self-advocacy has always been underestimated. “For those who are of a non-English speaking background or First Nations people, they don’t necessarily have the same access to health services and so advocacy is really important. “If you struggle doing that for yourself, taking something with you who can advocate on your behalf is a good idea.” Ramsay Health Care, which operates Joondalup Health Campus, has announced an independent external review into emergency paediatric services at the hospital. The probe comes in response both to Sandipan’s death as well as the case of 10-year-old Olivia Bakranich-Fowler, whom JHC staff refused to believe had been bitten by a tiger snake despite a blood test indicating she had been envenomated. Mr Tanti said the independent investigation, which will be helmed by a panel of east coast specialists, was “an obvious first step and an important first step” for Ramsay “to understand if there is an issue with their systems and processes that they need to get on top of”. “Having an external review is best practice,” he said. “We’ll have to wait for the outcomes of that, but I applaud them for doing it.”