Jalena Gunther, a mother from Edmonton, accuses Stollery Children’s Hospital of malpractice after her 3-year-old daughter, Emmy, suffered from serious complication with the IV line.
‘She was totally happy, relaxed and calm’
Emmy, who is diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome, was hospitalized on January 16th for an heart surgery.
Jalena said that her daughter was feeling OK after the intervention. Nurses administered Emmy a dose of morphine on Friday evening and after that hooked her up to an IV line.
One hour after that, Emmy started to cry and to be agitated with no obvious reason.
IV line was the culprit
Emmy’s grandmother noticed that something is wrong and called a doctor but no one came. Eventually, a nurse came only to administer another dose of morphine.
On Saturday morning, another nurse came and checked Emmy’s hand. The nurse immediately pulled out the IV line because Emmy’s hand was full of blisters and a liquid was leaking out of her hand.
A plastic surgeon was immediately called and Emmy was taken into surgery. Doctors removed the dead tissues.
Emmy will need a skin graft but may have lost forever the ability to normally use her hand
Jalena, Emmy’s mother, stated that her daughter is now out of any danger but her hand is open to the bone. Emmy will need a skin graft to have her hand repaired. However, there is a high possibility that Emmy will never be able to feel anything with her hand or to use the hand properly.
Health officials have already started a review
Jalena said she will launch a complaint.
Accordingly, Alberta Health Services officials stated that they’ve already started a review of the case. They presented their apologies and added that they will take this case seriously because such negligence is not admittible.
It is not an isolated case
Jalena Gunther said that Emmy’s case is not an isolated one as many mistakes are done at Stollery Children’s Hospital which is considered to be among the best hospitals in Canada.
