Reasons why survival had not been initially prioritised by parents
| Theme | Illustrative quote |
| Death was not considered as an outcome | ‘I wouldn’t have necessarily connected the two, that, um, that fever could be so, um, um, so linked to, to something so, you know, grave but yeah, um, I guess anything can happen, can’t, can’t it?’ (P73, interview, father, Fever phase 2). |
| Don’t want to think of death as a possibility | ‘It’s just something that you don’t, you don’t let enter your mind. So on reflection, when you’re thinking back, you don’t think of it. I can see that is, er, should be number one on the list, definitely’ (P53, interview, father, Fever phase 2). |
| Because child survived so death not considered | ‘I think because, you know, she has survived it all through, that sort of goes to the back of your mind again, you know. You sort of don’t think that, you think of oh what… but now, you know, now you think about it, you just, yeah, you don’t think of that. I don’t know, it’s strange’ (P78, interview, mother, Fever phase 2). |
| Not an option – my child was going to survive | ‘“There’s no option. I’ve lost a nephew, erm, five or six years ago, so, obviously, going into hospital and having them on the machines was, er… like brought back lots of memories, when they’re in intensive care, there’s only two ways out of it. You either don’t come out or you come out, so like I said to my wife, we’re definitely getting them out, or my son, because he was the only one ill at that time. (P55, interview, father, Fever phase 2). |
| Assured no risk of death | ‘As soon as we got there, they said, we treat this all the time, she’ll be fine. So I didn’t really ever think at that point that she wasn’t going to survive…’ (P79, interview, mother, Fever phase 2). |