toddler death-possible wrongful death and malpractice against ER

[juicysaunders]

Please help-possible wrongful death and malpractice agnst ER for toddler

YOUR STATE NAME - NEW YORK

My 21 mnth old daughter died as a result of a fall through a screen out a second story window. In the small town area we live in the landlord of our building also owns severasl others and he is to say the least a slumlord. My family was only living in his building until we could get into another building in the area. He was told repeatedly that the window had a broken screen, and I was told he would fix it-repeatedly-with no action taken by him. My daughter fell out the broken screen and landed on the driveway below. I called 911 and a police officer arrived and began to give her cpr-her breathing was present, but shallow. Once the ambulence arrived and my daughter was put into the back, I was seated next to the driver in the front of the vehicle.. As the team worked to keep my daugter alive, the driver of the ambulence was yelling back to them, interrupting them because they he could not figure out how to gwt the brake off to get moving. Once we arrived at the hospital, I was ushered to a private room with a counselor watching me to be sure that I was ok and my daughter was brought to a trauma room in the ER. The doctor came in and told me that they had plans to transfer her to another hospital in Albany Ny because the ER dd not have the equipment to treat her head injury. Her glasgow coma scor was a 6. I was iformed that the helicopter had arrived for transport, and as soon as my daughter was ready, I would be able to see her before she was taken to the other hospital. An hour passed and then the doctor came back to the room and told me that her heart had stopped briefly, but she was ok now, and that she was in cat scan-they did not ask or tell me they sent her there at all. She was supposed to be on a helicopter to a facility that could have treated her injuries-a 20 minute irde- and the attending physician-who is not a pediatrician in any way-sent her for a test that took over asn hour. As soon as she returned from cat scan, my daughter died. According to the medical reports i obtained from the hospital, her only injuries were a broken leg and a small tear in an artery connected to her brain-a subdural hematoma. It could have been repaired and I would gladly have accepted any mental retardation or physical limitations my daughter would have had. I strongly feel that in an area such as mine where farming is prevalent and children are often in dangerous situations that can cause the type of injuries my daughter susained, the ER and its doctors should be able to care for them efficiently and if not at least get them to another hospital promptly. My daughter arrived at the hospital 2 hours before she died.The helicopter was there 30 minutes after we arrived. I also have another daughter and a newborn son, and I personally am having to see a psychiatrist. When I asked the doctor what happened to her, his response was her heart just stopped, but on the medical report, there were no resucitation efforts taken for my daughter at all--probably because this ER has no pediatric resucitation equipment available. In ny state isn't there a law which requires ER's to be equipped with certain equipment for pediatric trauma cases? I obsess over my daughter's apparently preventable death and want to do something to draw public attention to the inadequacy of the hospital and doctors to deal with pediatric trauma as well as the lenient attitude of landlords to fixing their properties to prevent injuries and maybe even another death. As a matter of fact, a few months after my daughter's death, another toddler died in a similiar manner not 40 miles from this town.

Who do I have cases against? The ambulence company, the ladlord, the hospital, the doctors, the x ray technicians? I want justice so my daughter's deathwill not have been in vain.

 

[vrzirn]

I am sorry to hear about your little daughter but your attempts to place blame are incorrectly directed. Look a lot closer to home. A few strips of duct tape across the broken screen might have prevented the entire tragedy. Instead of complaining to the landlord, all you had to do was buy a roll and stick it on. You are ultimately responsible for your child's safety, especially because you were aware of the danger.
Your daughter appears to have suffered a cardiac arrest. There is no way her heart would have jump-started itself. So there were indeed resuscitative measures. Following the restoration of sinus rhythm the team had to be sure she was stable before transporting her. The scans would have noted the presence of a sub-dural hematoma.
Little farming community hospitals do not have the funds, staff, expertise or equipment to deal with major trauma. They stabilize the patient and send them to the nearest large facility equipped to handle the emergency.

 

[juicysaunders]

Your input ind close mindedness in addressing this problem have only succeeded in placing tremendous guilt on top of a pain I would not wish on my worst enemy. This town I am in is not that small, and there are state laws that require certain medical equipment in every emergency room in this state. This type of incident has occurred more than once over the years and the people I have been approached by who underwent similiar trauma with their childrens deaths all experienced the same level of care--slow and inefficient. I personally was attended to in this same er when I was pregnant for my daughter and bleeding heavily, where I was made to wait for hours bleeding and possibly losing ,my child while the doctors and nurses were busy having coffee and gossiping around the nurses station-not more than 10 feet from my room. My point is that in an area where they do not have the staffing of specialists required, they need to have properly trained staff especially to deal with a repeated problem. This ospital has the funding-believe me-we have one fo the stste's largest and most advanced cancer treatment centers. we are not a farming community so much as a large tourist town in upstate new york and believe me the hospital has the funding.

I am not trying to blameshift-believe me-the guilt I carry for turning my back that one second has almost destroyed me and my family. PLease offer help instead of criticism.

As for your duct tape idea--would you reaslly think your child would fall out of a window in the first place? That would be like thinking every time you crossed the street you would be hit and killed.

 

[jlw1000]

Most people do not consider the dangers of an open window, nor do they realize that window screens are not meant to hold weight. The only reason I ever considered this a problem in my own home, was becasue a friend had a nephew fall out of a 2nd floor window where the screen was intact. This particular situation has taught me to try to baby proof in every way imaginable, & I seem to find new potential hazards every day.

I think vrzirn is right in that you do not have a cause for a civil suit. He may have been too direct for your comfort though.

We can be wrong in the advice we are giving, there may be more to this story that can not be addressed properly through this type of communication. Contact an attorney for a free initial consultation & discuss the matter more thoroughly with him/her.

In time I hope your pain & guilt fade. In the meantime take care of your other little ones. I hope your family finds a way to cope with your loss, & heals together.

 

[juicysaunders]

So you really think that no one is responsible for the inadequate medical care my daughter received, but can tell me that someone can sue over a root canal or dental work? My daughteer's teeth were fine, but SHE is gone. Permanently. Is there no one out there who an give me some advice as to the laws in my state? There has to be something I can do.

 

[HomeGuru]

I do believe that there may be liability on the part of the hospital but a case such as this type would be very difficult to fight and prevail and will take big bucks, hours of investigation and discovery and many years to settle or even be ready for trial.
I suggest you meet with several law firms that specialize in these types of cases to discuss your options, if any.

 

[juicysaunders]

home guru---

thank you for responding to me. how do you advise i go about retaingin teh right attorney--one who is willing to fight for this on my behalf

 

[vrzirn]

The little girl needed a neurosurgeon. No ER doctor was going to drill into her head to evacuate the hematoma! There may not be any neurosurgeons on call in that hospital. They may not be accredited for neurosurgery.They may do cancer research but not brain surgery. There probably is no NS department.
Economically, it is just not be possible to provide that level of sophisticated medical expertise at every facility.
Even if she had been transported immediately, there would still have been the delay at the other hospital while they did the CT scan. The end result might have been the same. She might have arrested while in flight. The ER did an initial evaluation,provided an IV, O2, CPR, ,lab work,stabilized her for the flight and, correctly, was sending the films along. Even if she were not intubated they would have been supporting her respirations by mask. They do not just bundle her up and toss her on the helicopter.
No neurosurgeon would drill before looking at the films and discussing them with the radiologist. Those films take a lot of time.Just setting up the OR for the procedure takes time. The other hospital was probably getting ready while she was being stabilized for the trip. If she were there, she would still have to wait until the staff was ready.

 

[juicysaunders]

the hospital has a neurosurgeon on staff and he was paged 4 times with no response--they also have the correct or and staffing to perform neurosurgery--

my daughter had a chance and she wqas denied the right to live because of the hospital staff and their inefficency

 

[vrzirn]

On staff is not the same as "on call". If he were "on call" and they were able to assemble the correct trauma team they would not have called for the helicopter.
You would have to prove that "but for" the delay,your daughter would still be alive and well. I am explaining that the delay was inevitable due to necessary tests, the cardiac arrest, assessment of the injuries. Her injuries were severe and the prognosis poor.
I am sorry for your loss but do not believe you are ever going to be able to prove negligence.
By all means, take Home Guru's advice and discuss this with an attorney.

 

[juicysaunders]

As a medical expert witness as stated on your profile, I would like your opinion as to what you would testify if you were called to my daughters trial.

Upon seeing her immediately after the fall, she was breathing with no sounds of fluid in the lungs. Her eyes were open and her pupils continued to dialate normally. She was flaccid. At the hospital, she showed a flinching response to pain, continued to breathe on her own--they bagged her as regular procedure-and her heart rate was normal sinus rythm. Given those statistics, what would you rate her survival? Given those symptoms, could you have made the quick diagnosis that would have saved her life, or would you have opted to follow the same route that er doctor took? If they had had the correct size paddles available, my daughter's heart could have been restarted-correct? and also is it ny state law for er as well as ambulences and helicopter transports to have those paddles?

 

[vrzirn]

Without the CT scans no one knew what was going on inside her head. NO ER doctor in his right mind would drill into that baby's head. No neurosurgeon in HIS right mind would do it either until he evaluated the films. He would need to know the location of the clot and which artery was bleeding. ;You cannot just blindly cut into a head.
If it were abdominal trauma (ruptured spleen or lacerated liver),they would have possibly run her right up to the OR with any general surgeon, dumped a bucket of betadine on her and cut. But it was head trauma, and that is another story.
Pediatric surgery is very difficult because small children do not have the physiological reserves that adults do. In a very short time and with little warning, they can "go south". Even starting a good 20 gauge IV on a baby is difficult.
Although the availability of infant size paddles would have been nice, what is more important is how many joules they used and how much pressure on the paddles. Less joules to shock a baby heart. It appears they did it right because her rhythm was restored, at least for a time. If the arterial leak was very small she might have had time, but it was apparently large enough that, unfortunately, she did not.
You would have to prove the unavailability of infant paddles changed the outcome.
To assure yourself I suggest you follow the advice of Home Guru and talk to an attorney. It is good you are going for counseling to help deal with this tragedy.

 

[juicysaunders]

what if the medical report from the er doctor himself shows no resucitation efforts were taken at all the second time my daughter crashed?
exact words from report "when patient returned from cat scan, there was no heart signals. Resucitatiion efforts were stopped"


Did he not document himself into a lawsuit beacuse he does not show any effort was made to revive her? What liability do the ct scan technicians and accompanying medical personel have for returning a dead child from an hour long test? How do I go about trying to find out when her heart stopped if it is not documented and when I demanded and explanation from the er dcotor all he said was and i quote, " her heart just stopped. I'm sorry." and he walked out of the room.

I worked in an open heart heart surgeons office and have knowledge of basic medical termingology and felt i was owed a better explanation--hence, i obtained the medical records including the films from the ct scan and got theevery piece of infor mation i could--that is how i know her glasgow coma score and other information the doctor thought i was too ignorant to have in my possession.

what do you think?

 

[vrzirn]

I think you are grasping at straws. At some point, resuscitation efforts are futile. She was probably flat-line.I think you do not have any provable case. All of my posts on this thread have indicated why I think so.
Speak to a mal-practice attorney. If he thinks you have cause for suit,he will be willing to provide the considerable up-front money it will take for his time to review, depositions, expert witnesses, discoveries. etc. The burden of PROOF of ma-practice is on you.

 

[juicysaunders]

Grasping at straws? thank you a lot for your "kindness ." However, i notice you did not answer any of my questions from my last post.