Wrongful Death???

Hi, everyone. It’s very late in the morning but I can’t sleep. I stumbled on this site and enjoyed reading the posts. I learned a few things…

Well, let me tell you about what happened to us.
Our daughter died on Monday at 10:30 Pm at her 14 months birthday. When she was 2 months old they diagnosed her with sickle cell anemia (the less severe kind). She never had any problem with it. Actually they put her on a 6 month regiment.

She often developed ear infections and we were told to take her to the ER every time she has a fever over 102. Which we did religiously and took her to the same ER 4 times previously.

This time was the same. She had a fever. Hand she kept rubbing on her ears so we thought she might have the ear infection. We took her to the ER and her temp was 102.3. They gave her Tylenol and we proceeded to the ER exam room. When the doctor came in he ordered Rosaphyn (probably misspelled) and they injected her through ivy. 10 minutes into it, she started vomiting heavily. Then her face turned blue, her eyes red and her whole body rigid. The doctor said she was having a seizure. They tried to give her a medicine to calm her down but the ivy which was poorly inserted did not allow for that. Meanwhile, my daughter got calm and went into a deep sleep, and the doctor left. We they told us that she would wake up in about an hour. They order a cat scan, a spinal tube test and both came up negative. An hour and half later the child was not totally aware but we could feel she was coming around. Then the nurse asked the doctor who has not been in the room since the incident whether to continue administering the Rosaphyn and whithout even coming into the room, he said (with a sandwich in his hands) “yeah”. At that point I almost tried to stop the nurse…But she went ahead and did it. 5 minutes later, we could see all the vital signs of the child dropping.

The rest is a series of bad news with no clear answer as to what happened. She died in ICU.

Any help would be really appreciated

[ellencee]

marknvella
There is no word great enough to express my feelings of sympathy for your loss.
I hate to ask these questions, but I must in order to get information needed for my review and for that of the physician, vrzirn, who also reads and posts on this board.
Have you seen the death certificate and what was listed as the cause of death? was there an autopsy and if so, what was the listed cause of death?
are you suspecting that your child died from an allergic reaction to the antibiotic Rocephen, which caused a seizure that was then mishandled, and that your daughter died of lack of oxygen?

I have not really seem the death certificate. I went there last time top request that an autopsy be done by an independant physician. They TRIED to tell me that the county med examinier said that an autopsy was not necessary in this case...and if I wanted to do one, then I must go ahead and pay someone to do it and they say it cost $3000!!! This made me really sick and I almost feinted because everybody is telling me they don't know why my little daughter died and yet an autopsy is not necessary. I got a local lawyer to do it for me as I did not have the money... He said he would request the records along with the death certificate... I got a call a couple of hours ago from a doctor who did a test to determine the last possibility which was an overwhelming infection and its negative.

Meanwhile, a friend who is a RN from the hospital said that this happened to a child a couple of weeks ago and she died the same way and that as I write this note, there is a child in the ICU of the hospital with the same problem.

She also thinks that this can be an anphylaxis reaction...

I am not a doctor but I felt just by the doctor's attitude that he was not paying attention to what was happening...FACT: rigth after the seizure, he left the room and went and get a sandwich. When he was passing though, the nurse asked whether to give the Rocephen again and he said "yes". So the Rocephen was administered TWICE.

THanks

[vrzirn]

Are you saying the attorney is paying for the autopsy?What drugs was your daughter taking for the 6 month period? Did she ever have any allergic reaction to penicillin or other anti-biotic?What was she given the other times you took her to the ER?What does the ME list as cause of death?

[vrzirn]

Who started the IV? What kind of needle was it? Who administered the rocephin and what was the dosage?How was it given-fast or slow or you do not know?What did they give her afteer the convulsion? Was another IV started? Did she ever have a sickle-cell episode?

I am really sorry for what happened to your daughter. Having lost a child to what I think is ER negligence I know what you are feeling. Try and find a lawyer. Look for one ine the phone book that says hospital or ER negligence or if your area has a bar association referral line give them a call and they can direct you to someone. Most of these medical malpractice lawyers have a nurse on staff that may be able to determine if you have a case. BUT don't be discouraged if they say no. It's hard to find a lawyer to take on this kind of case without a cut and dry case. Thanks!