A Canadian mother says her eight-year-old girl suffered horrific injuries and nearly died after a routine procedure to remove her tonsils.
Sarah List, from Ontario, claims her eight-year-old daughter Sarah almost died after surgery on May 16 at McMaster Children’s Hospital – where two children have died after undergoing similar procedures, as reported by CTV News.
The two pediatric deaths are under investigation and the hospital has suspended all elective tonsil and tonsil surgery until an investigation is completed.
List told CTV News that Sarah was discharged just a few hours after having her tonsils removed and everything seemed fine until she started vomiting blood the next morning.
The ‘terrified’ mother took Sarah back to hospital where she received almost three weeks of care, including three additional operations and four nights in intensive care.
Sarah List, from Ontario, claims her eight-year-old daughter Sarah almost died after surgery on May 16 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 started to develop redness on her neck, while doctors drew a line to see if it would spread. When that happened, she was sent for a CT scan and then emergency surgery to drain the abscess.
Sarah was then put on a ventilator to help her breathe, and would 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 in her neck, and a nurse subsequently found “all these little bits of hard-boiled egg in it.”
The mother recalled, “They discovered there was a hole. A two-inch hole.”
Rosie then underwent another operation to repair the hole, which her mother says left her back to square one, and a feeding tube was inserted.
She was discharged after a total of 18 days in hospital and continues to recover at home.
The two pediatric deaths are under investigation and the hospital has suspended all elective tonsil and tonsil surgery until a review is completed
List wants Sarah’s case to be part of the investigation into the deaths of two children in hospital in May and early June
List wants the case to be part of the investigation into the deaths of two children in hospital in May and early June.
One child died in the hospital a day after surgery, and the other died nine days after a procedure. Their causes of death have not been released.
The hospital has said there is no link between the two cases and launched an investigation out of an “abundance of caution.”
“Our deepest condolences go out to these families for their tragic loss,” the hospital said in a statement.
“Our teams are working to inform patients/families that their planned care/surgery will be affected.”
Meanwhile, the hospital’s head of pediatric surgery, Dr. Devin Peterson, that 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.