One and a half year old Nel was hospitalized for two weeks due to pneumonia and sepsis. And although her lung had an additional 21-millimeter needle, the doctors sent the girl home. Why did they not react to the foreign body visible on the X-ray? How did the needle get into Nell’s lungs?
From birth, Nell has polygons, does not walk, sees and hears poorly, breathes through the tracheostomy tube. On December 23, 2017, she was taken to the Children’s Hospital at ul. Niekłańska in Warsaw. She had severe pneumonia and sepsis. After two weeks, the doctors decided to send the girl home.
– The hospital said there was no problem. That sepsis and pneumonia were cured, says Olga Guz, the girl’s mother.
However, after returning home, Nell’s condition deteriorated rapidly.
– It was red, wet. She had blue lips and tongue – reports mom.
Three hours later, the ambulance took the girl to the intensive care unit of the same hospital.
– They said that she is in even worse condition than in December – admits Mrs. Olga.
Nell was admitted to the hospital on January 5. The next day, a small patient had an X-ray of the lungs with a 21 mm needle! Where did it get in the girl’s lung?
– The doctor said someone must have thrown her through a tracheostomy tube. Doctors say that it had to happen between discharge – reports Ms Olga.
But according to the mother, this is illogical. Therefore, she asked the hospital for a CD with her daughter’s first X-ray, which was taken on December 23. Surprisingly, a foreign body is also visible on it.
Why the information about the needle in Nell’s lung was not included in the discharge from the hospital on January 5?
– I have a grudge to the hospital that my baby was released. Even if I knew she had this needle, I wouldn’t want to take it home. Because I wouldn’t know what to do – says Olga.
The position of the hospital was that it gave the mother information about a foreign body in her daughter’s lung.
– The entire documentation is – says Mariusz Mazurek, spokesman for the Children’s Hospital at ul. Niekłańska.
The spokesman did not change his mind even when we showed the photocopies of the documents that Olga had received. – Of course it is. The manager and I were looking through this documentation yesterday. It is in the photo, which is part of the documentation, explains the spokesman for Mazurek.
But why has such important information not been described in the documents that Nel’s mother has at her disposal?
– One doctor who describes an x-ray does it this way, another doctor pays attention to different elements. Apparently, the attending physician decided that this should not be entered – explains Mazurek. – It is very possible that it is in some other document. Maybe it is in the referrals the mother received on discharge. It’s hard for me to say – says the spokesman for the hospital.
The girl’s mother argues that the referral to the surgeon concerns only problems with feeding Nell.
The facility where Nel was hospitalized informed the prosecutor’s office about the case.
– The hospital indicates problems related to the care of a minor victim, which may lie on the side of the child’s mother – says Marcin Saduś, spokesman for the Warsaw-Praga District Prosecutor’s Office.
As it turned out, however, the investigators did not have full medical documentation of Nell. A key X-ray photo from December 23, which had just been provided by the journalist, was missing Comments!
The prosecutor’s office expanded the scope of its activities.
– Proceedings are conducted towards the risk of losing life as a result of improper care while the child was at home. But also in terms of a possible medical error that could have been committed in the hospital – says Marcin Saduś and emphasizes that the fact that the needle is inserted into the body is not without significance. – If these circumstances contributed to the deterioration of the child’s health and resulted, for example, in a permanent damage to this health, then it will be necessary to change the legal qualification. Such an act will be punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment – emphasizes the spokesman of the prosecutor’s office.
Nell’s mother turned to the Patients’ Ombudsman, with whom she filed a complaint about the hospital.
– Explanatory proceedings will be initiated regarding the violation of patient rights, says Paweł Grzesiewski from the office of the Patient’s Rights Ombudsman. – The child’s health condition at discharge is also to be determined. Maybe this state of health was not at all what was recorded in the medical records. Let’s also not forget that the child, on the same day, after a few hours, was admitted to the same ward – adds Grzesiewski.
The condition of the girl before the broadcast of the reportage improved. She is conscious now. Doctors are to decide if baby Nel can be operated on.