Routine Tonsillectomy - 13-Year Old Girl Brain Dead

Every news source I read or heard referred to this as a "routine tonsillectomy".

IT WAS NOT!!!!!!!!

Have a look at what the butchers were doing to this young girl:

Jahi underwent three surgical procedures for the treatment of her sleep apnea. This included a tonsillectomy, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), and resectioning of nasal turbinates. Though initially described as a “routine tonsillectomy,” this degree of surgery in children is not routine. It is extensive. When performed on a child, the risk is high.

So sad.

Her poor mother -

It wasn't a routine tonsillectomy. Anytime you go under the knife and general anaesthesia you risk death. Almost 1 million people die annually due to getting medical treatment in the USA.

Jahi underwent three surgical procedures for the treatment of her sleep apnea. This included a tonsillectomy, uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP), and resectioning of nasal turbinates. Though initially described as a “routine tonsillectomy,” this degree of surgery in children is not routine. It is extensive. When performed on a child, the risk is high.

I have to agree this is way too much surgery in a dangerous area (airway) to perform in one operation.

So sad.

Bad doctors get away with way too much in this country.

chunkyfrog wrote:Bad doctors get away with way too much in this country.

+1

http://overlawyered.com/2013/12/jahi-mc ... illectomy/

Obesity in children increases the surgical risk ratio by 7+.

Only the media has been saying "routine".

Therapist wrote:I have to agree this is way too much surgery in a dangerous area (airway) to perform in one operation.

Like you know:

Palate surgery is combined with tonsillectomy in most patients who have tonsils that have not previously been removed. Palate surgery (with or without tonsillectomy) is principally used to treat obstructive sleep apnea.

Make more money beat out, do no harm, many times XPAP is the best choice, it's the safest. Jim

Her mom should have gotten second and third opinions on that surgery. Someone should have suggested CPAP! Glad I did not choose surgery - my CPAP machine is the gift that keeps on giving.

sleeplessinaz wrote:Her mom should have gotten second and third opinions on that surgery. Someone should have suggested CPAP!

There is nothing in the sparse information thus far presented to indicate that that was not done.

It does not say that she even had NPSG to determine the severity of the OSA.

BTW, the hospital where this happened isn't exactly what you'd call a Doc-in-the Box:

http://www.childrenshospitaloakland.org/main/home.aspx

ChicagoGranny wrote:Have a look at what the butchers were doing to this young girl:

They were not "butchers", they were "surgeons" (at least one of them, anyway). Please read bavinck's thread on "Negative and Critical Posting".

Again, with virtually no facts here, everything is speculation. However, given the timeline and a few other clues (got to the PICU, was awake and talking, then all hell broke loose) this sounds suspiciously like Post Obstructive Pulmonary Edema II or Negative Pressure Pulmonary Edema. Who is actually saying "hemorrhage" is not clear, but while hemorrhage could certainly have been present, the copious pink froth that accompanies this (these) events could easily be interpreted as hemorrhage by the mother (if that's where the account is coming from).

Also, it could have been a "difficult airway management" event once everything hit the fan (ya think!?), but again, in a facility and unit like that, I would have thought that someone would have gone directly to tracheostomy (see above, there were ENT surgeons there, and they could do that blindfolded). Despite the mess that was occurring 3 inches away, this could have been accomplished fairly easily.

However, (and in this particular speculation) the problem is now in the lungs, where there is an inability to oxygenate, and everything compounds in "The Perfect Storm".

According to the parents, the kids was bleeding profusely from the mouth and throwing blood clots. It is my understanding that it is a complication from the procedure (not sure how rare it is) that obviously needs to be dealt with immediately. They and an aunt who is an RN allege that medical personnel were slow to react.

49er

Sludge wrote:

ChicagoGranny wrote:Have a look at what the butchers were doing to this young girl:

They were not "butchers", they were "surgeons" (at least one of them, anyway). Please read bavinck's thread on "Negative and Critical Posting".

Again, with virtually no facts here, everything is speculation. However, given the timeline and a few other clues (got to the PICU, was awake and talking, then all hell broke loose) this sounds suspiciously like Post Obstructive Pulmonary Edema II or Negative Pressure Pulmonary Edema. Who is actually saying "hemorrhage" is not clear, but while hemorrhage could certainly have been present, the copious pink froth that accompanies this (these) events could easily be interpreted as hemorrhage by the mother (if that's where the account is coming from).

Also, it could have been a "difficult airway management" event once everything hit the fan (ya think!?), but again, in a facility and unit like that, I would have thought that someone would have gone directly to tracheostomy (see above, there were ENT surgeons there, and they could do that blindfolded). Despite the mess that was occurring 3 inches away, this could have been accomplished fairly easily.

However, (and in this particular speculation) the problem is now in the lungs, where there is an inability to oxygenate, and everything compounds in "The Perfect Storm".

Sludge wrote:

ChicagoGranny wrote:Have a look at what the butchers were doing to this young girl:

They were not "butchers", they were "surgeons" (at least one of them, anyway). Please read bavinck's thread on "Negative and Critical Posting".

Again, with virtually no facts here, everything is speculation. However, given the timeline and a few other clues (got to the PICU, was awake and talking, then all hell broke loose) this sounds suspiciously like Post Obstructive Pulmonary Edema II or Negative Pressure Pulmonary Edema. Who is actually saying "hemorrhage" is not clear, but while hemorrhage could certainly have been present, the copious pink froth that accompanies this (these) events could easily be interpreted as hemorrhage by the mother (if that's where the account is coming from).

Also, it could have been a "difficult airway management" event once everything hit the fan (ya think!?), but again, in a facility and unit like that, I would have thought that someone would have gone directly to tracheostomy (see above, there were ENT surgeons there, and they could do that blindfolded). Despite the mess that was occurring 3 inches away, this could have been accomplished fairly easily.

However, (and in this particular speculation) the problem is now in the lungs, where there is an inability to oxygenate, and everything compounds in "The Perfect Storm".

You can see me?

49er wrote:According to the parents, the kids was bleeding profusely from the mouth and throwing blood clots. It is my understanding that it is a complication from the procedure (not sure how rare it is) that obviously needs to be dealt with immediately.

In that age group, about 3%.

BTW, of the 530,000 tonsillectomies performed on children <15 years (most for OSA), only ~10% get NPSG.

The official at the coroner's office said time is critical. "When the body is on a ventilator, the body is healing," the official said. "If a medical misadventure occurred, and the body is healing and covering up traces of that misadventure, the coroner pathologist has a more difficult time rendering a cause of death."

The bigger issue is deciding whether it is more important to delay removing the ventilator to give relatives time to grieve or to act quickly to determine the causes of death before continued healing could make it impossible to ascertain those causes, the official said.

"We know the parents want answers, and it is our office that will provide answers if they are available to us," the official said. "The longer we wait, the less susceptible we are to getting the evidence we need to render a cause of death. Time is not on our side, from a medical investigation standpoint."

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/17/health/ca ... rain-dead/