A Canadian mother says her eight-year-old girl suffered horrific injures and almost died after a routine procedure to remove her tonsils.
Sarah List, from Ontario, claims her eight-year-old daughter Sarah nearly died after the May 16 surgery at McMaster Children’s Hospital – where two children have died after undergoing similar procedures, as reported by CTV News.
The two child deaths are under investigation and the hospital has paused all scheduled tonsil and adenoid surgeries until a review is complete.
List told CTV News Sarah was discharged just a few hours after her tonsils were removed and everything seemed fine, until she started vomiting blood the next morning.
The ‘terrified’ mom took Sarah back to the hospital, where she spent nearly three weeks receiving care, which included three additional surgeries and four nights in intensive care.
Sarah List, from Ontario, claims her eight-year-old daughter Sarah nearly died after the May 16 surgery at McMaster Children’s Hospital
‘She had an infection in her bloodstream and I didn’t fully understand until later that it was sepsis,’ List told CTV News. ‘She was so lethargic. She was so sleepy.’
Sarah began to develop redness on her neck with doctors drawing a line to see if it would spread. When it did, she was sent for a CT scan and then to emergency surgery to drain the abscess.
Sarah was then put on a ventilator to help her breathe, and had been scheduled to be discharged after a week.
But things didn’t go as planned when the tubes were removed and she was allowed to eat solid food.
List says that after eating a hard-boiled egg, Sarah complained about the incision on her neck, and a nurse then found ‘little bits of hard-boiled egg all in it.’
The mom recalled: ‘They found out there was a hole. A five-centimeter hole.’
Rosie then had another surgery to repair the hole, which her mom says put her back to square one, and a feeding tube was inserted.
She was discharged after a total of 18 days in the hospital and continues to recover at home.
The two child deaths are under investigation and hospital has paused all scheduled tonsil and adenoid surgeries until a review is complete
List wants Sarah’s case to be part of the investigation into the deaths of two children at the hospital in May and early June
List wants the case to be part of the investigation into the deaths of two children at the hospital in May and early June.
One child died a day after having surgery at the hospital, and the other died nine days after a procedure. Their causes of death have not been released.
The hospital has said there is no connection between the two cases and they launched a probe out of ‘an abundance of caution.’
‘Our deepest condolences go to these families for their tragic loss,’ the hospital said in a statement.
‘Our teams are in the process of informing patients/families that their scheduled care/surgery is affected.’
Meanwhile the chief of pediatric surgery at the hospital Dr. Devin Peterson said the deaths were ‘tragic’ and ‘very rare.’
‘McMaster Children’s Hospital is a leading pediatric center and we take this responsibility very seriously,’ he said.