{"id":63625,"date":"2025-06-08T15:54:35","date_gmt":"2025-06-08T15:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=63625"},"modified":"2025-06-08T15:54:36","modified_gmt":"2025-06-08T15:54:36","slug":"5-year-old-girl-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/?p=63625","title":{"rendered":"5-year-old girl dies?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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5-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Misdiagnosed by Doctors as Having a Cold
Cathy Kassis, 5, was misdiagnosed by doctors with the common cold, but died from the bacterial infection strep A.
A family is dealing with the unexpected loss of their 5-year-old daughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Justin Sutton, a resident of Bathurst, Australia, recounted how his 5-year-old stepdaughter, Cathy Kassis, was taken to the doctor\u2019s office by her mother, Jasmine Worobez. Doctors said Cathy was only suffering from a cold and would soon recover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But medical professionals later realized Cathy had been infected with strep A, a bacterial strain that initially causes a sore throat, scarlet fever, and skin lesions, News.com.au reported.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the time the infection was identified, it had progressed to the point that Cathy\u2019s body was in a state of collapse, leaving little chance of recovery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAfter three days, he lost his voice completely, so obviously we were a little worried,\u201d Sutton told 7News. \u201cBut the doctors just said it was a viral infection and we should continue with what we were doing and let it run its course.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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But soon, he stopped breathing properly. \u201cI wasn\u2019t breathing properly\u2026 it was almost like an asthma attack, or like watching someone with emphysema trying to breathe,\u201d Sutton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During Cathy\u2019s hospitalization, doctors tested her for COVID-19 and RSV, both of which came back negative. Eventually, they informed her family that Cathy had a viral infection and discharged her to return home<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few days later, on August 28, Cathy\u2019s lips were reported to have turned purple. Her mother called an ambulance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe was losing consciousness intermittently and collapsed in Jazz\u2019s arms,\u201d Sutton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While on the phone with emergency services, Sutton administered CPR for approximately 15 minutes. Paramedics arrived shortly afterward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cathy was airlifted to Westmead Children\u2019s Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were informed that she had been declared brain dead. The coroner determined the cause of death to be Strep A, and Westmead discovered this through a simple throat swab,\u201d Sutton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strep A kills 50,000 people worldwide each year and affects approximately 750 million people. Australia has witnessed a surge in cases of this disease in children, as revealed by a study published in Lancet Regional Health. Between July 2018 and December 2022, three children died from complications arising from strep A infection. The study examined data from the Pediatric Active Enhanced Disease Surveillance (PAEDS) network, highlighting alarming statistics. The study identified a troubling statistic: 280 pediatric patients under the age of 18 were admitted to five major Australian children\u2019s hospitals located in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory, all with the same infection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Among these young patients, 84 experienced serious complications, including toxic shock and the devastating necrotizing disease known for its carnivorous properties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Group A strep infections are common during childhood and typically cause mild, short-term illnesses that respond well to antibiotics. Transmission of these bacteria usually occurs through close contact with an infected person through activities such as sneezing, coughing, or touching an open wound. However, in rare, sporadic cases, group A strep infection can become severe and develop into a serious form of illness known as invasive group A strep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt could have been treated with a conventional course of antibiotics,\u201d Sutton told the outlet. \u201cBut what I\u2019ve told everyone is that we\u2019ll worry about those doctors later, because that\u2019s a fight for another day. We just want people to be aware of this and trust their instincts when something doesn\u2019t feel right.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, amid these tragic circumstances, Sutton expressed that Cassie\u2019s legacy lives on thanks to the fact that she saved the lives of three young children through her selfless organ donation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just want people to know who Cathy is and what she accomplished,\u201d Sutton said. \u201cShe embodies a true superhero, and not many people can say that. Something that was the worst moment of our lives\u2026 at least she was able to save three other families, which is a beautiful thing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, a GoFundMe page has been created to support Cassie\u2019s family during this difficult time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

5-Year-Old Girl Dies After Being Misdiagnosed by Doctors as Having a ColdCathy Kassis, 5, was misdiagnosed by doctors with the common cold, but died from the bacterial… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63625"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=63625"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63625\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63627,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63625\/revisions\/63627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=63625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=63625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pulsperry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=63625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}