The NHS has agreed to give a seriously ill British baby life-saving treatment in a U-turn after a desperate campaign by his parents to get him out of a Turkish hospital.
Adam and Eda Corin’s three-month-old son Maverick suffered cardiac failure and is in a critical condition in Istanbul, where they live, with potentially only days to live.
The boy was diagnosed at Koc University Hospital with dilated cardiomyopathy, a rapidly progressive cardiac condition requiring specialist paediatric cardiac care.
Doctors in Istanbul say they do not have the expertise to perform the necessary surgery, and if he has any hope of surviving he needs to be given care by the NHS.
Such treatment is available only in several hospitals in England – but despite Maverick having a UK passport, his parents had been unable to get any to accept him.
They spent £38,000 of their savings on securing an air ambulance which was placed on standby and have worked with global medical teams to try to get him to Britain.
But Maverick could not be moved without a confirmed paediatric cardiac intensive care bed in the UK – and none of the NHS trusts approached were willing to take him.
However, in a dramatic U-turn following the last-minute intervention of the Daily Mail today, Maverick has been offered a place at Bristol Royal Hospital for Children.
Maverick Corin is in a critical condition at a hospital in Istanbul with potentially only days to live
Doctors at Koc University Hospital treat little Maverick who has dilated cardiomyopathy
The hospital had been initially unwilling to accept Maverick, but bosses have now changed their mind ‘following an urgent review by a senior multi-disciplinary team’.
The family are now preparing to get Maverick airlifted to Britain as soon as possible, with the risk increasing every hour that he will no longer be fit to fly – and his medical team saying this point could be reached in as little as two to three days.
He would then be left in Turkey without access to the life-saving treatment he needs – so his parents are now in a race against time, with Maverick in hospital abroad and facing a narrow and closing window in which he can be safely repatriated.
Business travel consultant Mr Corin, who was born in Devon, has been living in Istanbul on-and-off for around five years and married his Turkish wife Eda just over two years ago.
But he still owns a house in Keynsham near Bristol, his company is based in Britain, he remains a UK taxpayer and is up to date on his National Insurance payments.
The couple had Maverick, their first child, in late September last year. But three weeks later he was taken ill so they took him to hospital in Istanbul where his condition deteriorated.
Maverick was put into intensive care and a few days later doctors said he had heart failure. For the next ten days, Mr and Mrs Corin were only able to see him for five minutes each day.
The boy was being given 12 different medicines at one point, before starting to improve – and his parents were allowed to take him home at the start of December despite having to give him a cocktail of drugs every two hours.
Maverick could not be moved without a paediatric cardiac intensive care bed in the UK
The risk increases every hour that Maverick will no longer be fit to fly to Britain for treatment
On December 28, he deteriorated again and his parents called their local GP who said to take him back to hospital, where he has remained in intensive care ever since.
Maverick’s condition has not improved and Mr Corin said he now has a resting heartbeat of over 180bpm which has risen to as high as 240bpm in recent days.
The family approached Bristol Royal Hospital for Children, his local specialist centre based on Mr Corin’s UK address, in an attempt to save his life – but said they had initially declined to take him.
Mr Corin claimed an employee at the hospital told him Maverick may only be offered a ‘Group 2 donor transplant’, which refers to patients who are critically ill but stable enough to wait briefly for a matching donor heart – and there is therefore ‘0 per cent chance of him getting one’.
The Daily Mail contacted the hospital for comment at 9.20am today, and received a response just after 1pm from Professor Tim Whittlestone, chief medical and innovation officer at Bristol NHS Group.
He said: ‘Following an urgent review by a senior multi-disciplinary team, we have agreed to accept Maverick as a patient at UHBW (University Hospitals Bristol and Weston NHS Foundation Trust).
‘If he is able to travel safely, our teams will do everything they can to ensure he receives the best possible care. As at all times throughout this process, our thoughts are firmly with Maverick and his family.
‘We understand the public interest in this case, but we must respect patient confidentiality and therefore cannot share any additional details or comment further.’
Maverick has a rapidly progressive cardiac condition needing specialist paediatric cardiac care
Other NHS paediatric cardiac units such as Great Ormond Street Hospital in London and Freeman Hospital in Newcastle were also approached by the family.
Mr Corin explained that both hospitals told him they could help, but Maverick would need to go to Bristol Royal first to be stabilised before being moved to them.
Another suggested option was Government-funded access to a private paediatric cardiac intensive care bed, such as at The Portland Hospital in London, if no NHS bed could be made available.
Mr Corin, who said he has recently been awake for 22 hours a day to do everything he can to help Maverick, also attempted to get help from Parliament.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Health Minister Karin Smyth were contacted yesterday in an effort to get the Department of Health and Social Care to intervene.
Speaking before the U-turn by the Bristol hospital, Mr Corin said: ‘There are two places in the UK that can provide life-saving treatment which is Newcastle Freemans and Gosh.
‘Both have said to go to Bristol Royal first as they can stabilise him and then move to one of the others after. Both Freeman and Gosh said that they can take him but they need to make 100 per cent sure what and when he needs.
‘We are in the very best hospital in Turkey but they just don’t have this life-saving machine, nor can they get any infant heart donors.’
He added that management at the Bristol hospital had been ‘incredible difficult and each day another reason why they cannot take him’, adding: ‘Plus my house is near Bristol and the other NHS hospitals said he needs to go there.’
He added that despite his representations, Royal Bristol had originally told him that they ‘cannot accept without knowing if Mav is entitled to NHS care or not’.
Maverick is being treated in intensive care at Koc University Hospital in Istanbul (pictured)
Mr Corin continued: ‘Everyone knows he is and this is just pure NHS politics. Mav has a 0 per cent chance in Turkey, but every chance in the UK – how can they play with a three-months-old baby’s life over some bit of paper?
‘We will be flying back ASAP as once on UK soil they will have no choice but to help. This is our only option. He only has a few days to live and each day we can see he is getting worse.’
Following the hospital’s U-turn Mr Corin gave a quick update, saying: ‘We had calls from other NHS hospitals saying they will accept. Bristol just called and said they can now accept Mav, so we are so, so happy.’
Matthew Wood, case manager at global repatriation services firm Spark Medical, wrote a letter to Mr Streeting and Ms Smyth asking for help which concluded: ‘This is not a routine transfer request.
‘This is a British infant in critical cardiac failure, stranded abroad, with a narrow and closing window in which he can be safely repatriated.
‘His parents have done everything within their power: they have secured an aircraft, coordinated with international medical teams, and pursued every NHS pathway available.’
Reverend Danny Reed, a Methodist minister in Helston, Cornwall, who is related to the Corin family, also took up the fight.
He contacted local Liberal Democrat MP Andrew George, whose office he said ‘helped immensely’ in speaking directly to the Health Secretary and Home Office to get Maverick an emergency passport.
The Daily Mail has also contacted Great Ormond Street and Freeman hospitals for comment, as well as NHS England and the Department of Health and Social Care.
