Sofia's son Hjalmar, 8, was affected by flesh-eating bacteria - his ear partially gone

It was last year that Hjalmar, then seven years old, had to undergo surgery. A not unusual operation, but already after a day the parents felt that something was wrong.

- It was very serious. He had a high fever, was in pain and vomited, says Sofia.

Nevertheless, the family felt that the care initially did not take the concerns seriously. When they called in the evening, they were told to wait overnight. The next day, it turned out that one ear had been affected by a streptococcal infection in the form of a so-called flesh-eating bacteria that led to necrosis, tissue death, and Hjalmar had to undergo emergency surgery.

- I get sad and frustrated. I wish they had listened to us as guardians. I feel that you would not have had to end up here if you had acted in a different way from the beginning.

Received intensive care

It required several operations, treatment in ICU and a trip to the University Hospital in Linköping. Parts of the ear were later found to be dead and had to be removed. Today the ear is misshapen.

- Hjalmar feels good today, but he does not want to operate on his ear again. He did not want to continue at, for example, the swimming school, and has today chosen other types of activities because he has been afraid of damaging his ear.

Care self-critical

Aram Pawahi, clinic manager for ears, nose, throat in Region Jönköping County, says he cannot comment on the case with reference to patient confidentiality.

In a response to IVO, however, the clinic writes that the case could partly have been handled differently with hindsight. For example, the family should have been able to come in faster when they got in touch, and the operation should have taken place earlier.

However, the care's assessment is that the damage to the ear probably could not have been avoided even if Hjalmar had come in earlier, because the infection had had time to progress so far. How he got the infection is unclear.

Operations have gone awry