A tonsillectomy is a pretty common procedure for a child. Experts say it is the third most common childhood surgery right behind circumcision and ear tubes. This procedure is widely considered safe, so how did a 9-year-old little girl die after her procedure?
When Routine Medical Procedures Go Wrong
The little girl’s mother had been avoiding the surgery for years. Doctors told her that the procedure was medically necessary and would stop the girl’s snoring. So after a lot of trepidation, this girl’s mother finally took her daughter into Children’s Hospital of Michigan to get the procedure done. However, events played out as she had feared.
A surgery so routine it usually takes 40 minutes to complete took two hours. Once the little girl was out and on her way to recovery, the hospital staff quickly discharged her. The mother was given a prescription for oxycodone to give the little girl in case she was in pain, but because the drug is a controlled substance, no pharmacy was willing to fill it. Mother and daughter travelled to several pharmacies trying to get the prescription filled when the unthinkable happened.
The mother turned to the backseat to check on her little girl, but the 9-year-old was unresponsive and cold to the touch. She took the girl to the nearest hospital, but she was too far gone and passed away.
Now this mother is filing a lawsuit against the hospital that performed her daughter’s tonsillectomy. She believes something went wrong with the surgery and that the hospital rushed her and her daughter out. She believes those factors cost her little girl her life, do you agree?
Could a case like this happen in our local hospitals? What signs do we need to watch out for to guard your families against surgical errors? Follow our Macon medical malpractice attorneys for helpful tips that may keep your family a bit safer. You can also share your thoughts with us on Twitter and Facebook.
