Actor Jason Watkins recalls horror moment he discovered his daughter, two, had died from sepsis – and tells how his ‘rage’ is fuelling bid to improve how hospitals treat condition in infants: ‘I could see the cot ahead of me… and I knew she was dead’
Actor Jason Watkins has described the horror of finding his two-year-old daughter dead in her cot, as he urged emergency departments to reconsider their procedures for babies.
The 61-year-old star, who played Harold Wilson in Netflix’s The Crown, said Maude had developed a chest infection, which was treated with medication by her doctor.
After her condition did not improve, Watkins and his wife Clara Francis took her to the emergency room, where they were told she had a bad cold and croup before being discharged.
Maude died later that evening at home – and it was only later discovered that she had developed sepsis, a life-threatening response to an infection that occurs when the immune system overreacts and begins to damage the body’s own tissues and organs.
Speaking about the moment he realized Maude had died in the family maisonette on New Year’s Day 2011, Watkins told Andy Coulson’s podcast Crisis What crisis? that his other daughter Bessie, who was four at the time, had entered his room.
Actor Jason Watkins has described the horror of finding his two-year-old daughter dead in her crib, during an appearance on the latest episode of Andy Coulson’s podcast Crisis What Crisis?
Speaking about the moment he realized Maude had died, Jason Watkins told podcast host Andy Coulson that his other daughter Bessie, who was four at the time, had entered his room.
Maude (photo) died in her bed in the Watkins family maisonette on New Year’s Day 2011
Watkins said: ‘I woke up and Bessie came in, she was four at the time, and she said ‘oh, I can’t wake Maude’. I had a very strange feeling that something was very wrong.
“And maybe then a kind of slow motion started, when I stood up and there was a feeling of fear, I remember this feeling of fear, but that everything was going to be okay, you know, it’s fine.
‘I walked into the bedroom and I saw the crib in front of me and I could see that she was dead. There was blood coming from her nose and mouth.
‘Cataclysmic. And then everyone cried and wailed and it was terrible. You can’t believe it’s happening, and you want time to go back, you think this isn’t happening, this isn’t happening.’
Watkins said he tried to revive Maude with CPR on the living room floor and wanted to get her away from Bessie.
He added: “You just want time to go back, you think no, this isn’t right, this didn’t happen, this is wrong. But then the ambulance arrived and they tried to revive her. Then one of the doctors was told that was it. We couldn’t revive her and she died.’
The actor, who has joined forces with the UK Sepsis Trust to help raise awareness of the condition among the public and doctors, also revealed how he smashed his shower amid anger over Maude’s death.
He said: ‘It was anger at fate. Why should we deserve this? You feel very vulnerable and there is a kind of anger against that. And there are all these different ways to solve and struggle out of this horrible dark pit that you’re in.
“Sometimes you feel like a complete victim and there’s no way out, and other times you start smashing the shower because you have to break out and get on with life.”
He also talked about how he has since managed to channel his anger into efforts to improve hospital procedures for patients with sepsis, as well as the general approach to babies in emergency departments.
Maude initially developed a respiratory infection, which was treated with medication by her doctor
Watkins and his wife keep Maude’s red shoes on the mantelpiece, 13 years after her death
Watkins said: ‘Because I had determined that there was no individual fault at the hospital, it had to be the system. So we have to improve it.
‘For me, the whole looking at babies arriving at A&E needs to be re-examined. Maude died 12 years ago, and the ombudsman’s report on sepsis a few months ago said nothing had changed… that was like a body blow.’
It comes after the UK’s health ombudsman warned last October that sepsis is still claiming too many lives as hospitals make the same mistakes they made a decade ago.
Rob Behrens said some progress has been made in diagnosis and treatment since his office published the groundbreaking Time to Act report in 2013.
Watkins had been told in the emergency room that Maude had a bad cold and croup before he was discharged
But his research found that some lessons were still not being learned and that repeated mistakes were putting patients at risk of death.
Delays in diagnosis and treatment, poor communication and administration, and missed opportunities for follow-up care were among the failures noted.
Watkins and his wife made an emotional documentary about his daughter’s death, called Jason & Clara: In Memory of Maudie, which aired on ITV last March.
Last September, then Health Secretary Steve Barclay promised the introduction of ‘Martha’s Rule’ to give NHS patients the right to a second opinion if they believe their fears are being addressed.
Watkins made the ITV documentary Jason & Clara: In Memory of Maudie in March 2023
Jason Watkins played Harold Wilson in Netflix’s royal drama The Crown (pictured in 2019)
He made his pledge after meeting Merope Mills, an editor at The Guardian whose 13-year-old daughter Martha died after doctors refused to admit her to intensive care.
Martha died in 2021 after developing sepsis at King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust in south London.
A coroner ruled in March 2022 that she most likely would have survived if doctors had noticed the warning signs.
The UK Sepsis Trust says the condition affects 245,000 people and causes 48,000 deaths in Britain every year.
Listen to the full Crisis What crisis? interview with Jason Watkins click here