This adorable girl (smiling in her hospital bed post-ordeal) was scheduled for a routine MRI yesterday (one that her father and I were entirely convinced was unnecessary, but that we were going through with to satisfy doctors who were most likely just covering their own asses). Because she is so young, she had to be sedated for the procedure. You can't expect a two-year-old to just hang out for an hour while you run scans of her brain.What could go wrong? Glad you asked. Tiny girls such as Evelyn are completely swallowed up by the MRI machine. You know they're in there, but you can't see them. So if, for example, her IV becomes somehow disconnected and she's lying unconscious in the machine, bleeding freely for no one knows how long, you wouldn't be able to tell. Not until you take her out and find her lying in a puddle of her own blood. Yes, enjoy that image -- it keeps replaying in my mind. I'm glad I didn't see the actual event, but my imagination fills in the blanks quite nicely.
When the doctor retrieved me from the waiting area to tell me what had happened, he played it cool, but even he couldn't pretend that this was at all routine or normal or OK. This doesn't happen. Little ones such as Evelyn don't have a lot of blood to spare, so when they lose a large amount, the quantity of which is unknown in this case, it is dangerous and scary. (Scary, yes -- that is an understatement.) The nurse confessed, in panicked tones, that in her 28 years as a nurse, she'd never seen anything like it. (Bedside Manner 101: Don't say things like that to scared parents.)
In the end, Evelyn is fine. She had to stay in the hospital overnight for observation, and she's likely to be pale and wan for a few days while she rebuilds her blood supply, but no lasting harm was done.
But how does this happen? I know human error is unavoidable. There's no knowing when it will strike. And we can't expect doctors and nurses to be superhuman. But how is it that there's no safeguard that keeps this from happening? As Pop-pop and others have said to me, this seems to be yet another sign that something is seriously wrong with our health care system, that important, essential details are being overlooked and lives are being endangered as a result.
All involved parties expressed a great deal of remorse and concern, leading me to believe they are as mystified as I am about how this happened. I'm glad Evelyn is fine, but what if she weren't? What if she'd lost more blood? What if she'd been abandoned on the table for hours while unconscious and bleeding?
How do we prevent this sort of thing?
10 comments:
This sort of thing is prevented by NEVER letting an anesthetized child, or adult for that matter, out of the sight of a medical professional.
I agree with Mom. There needs to be a camera or something so that the docs can observe what is going on in there. Even with an adult. What if you are claustrophobic? Or something goes wrong? How are you supposed to alert the medical staff?
I'm really glad Evie is OK. I'm sorry this happened.
Bad things happen. But they should have had someone in there with her. I have done it many times with patients that were on ventalators. They do not have enough people to handle the work load and it is going to get worst. So family will have to be proactive and demand that they stay with their childern. It can be done. TPTB do not like it but there are ways to get around it.
We do not have the best medical care in the world and it is only going to get worst.
The aveage age of nurses is over 50. It is a physically hard job, requires top people in both intellence and caring.
How is Evie doing and why did they want an MRI of her?
Aunt Bobby makes an excellant point.
The next time your toddler needs a medical test, insist on being there. You are always going to be your child's best advocate.
I had a bad hospital experience with my youngest once, and I guess it just taught me to never shy away from being that overprotective, obsessive mother no one wants to deal with. It's the one situation in which I don't mind sounding really stupid by asking an abundance of questions and making blunt demands.
I am so glad she is okay, and for her sake, I'm glad she wasn't awake to experience the whole thing.
My now 2 year old son had to have a CT Scan and an MRI 6 months ago and they just gave him a sedative. He slept through both procedures. Why did they have to put an IV in?
My son ended up having to have brain surgery and endoscopic nasal surgery. From that experience I learned to follow my "Mommy Instincts" and to ask as many questions as possible about everything.
To answer a few questions:
Evie is doing great. She had the MRI because her ophthalmologist thought one of her optic nerves looked a touch on the small side. Preliminary results from the MRI disagree -- Evie's optic nerves look just fine.
I had a hard time getting them to even let me into the MRI room while they sedated Evelyn, seeing as my body is full of metal, but if there is ever a next time, you can bet Airan or I will be there the whole time, and we'll for sure be seeking out an open MRI so we can keep a close eye on the proceedings.
Because Evelyn has a history of occasional asthma, the hospital chose to do a general anesthesia rather than a lower-level sedative. However, if I understand correctly, the IV didn't have anything to do with the anesthesia -- the IV was to inject the chemical that adds contrast to the MRI scans. Not all MRI orders call for scans with contrast, but Evelyn's did. When they started doing the round of contrast scans and realized they weren't getting contrast, they knew something had gone wrong with the IV and pulled her out to get a look. And we all know what they found.
Oh my God! I am glad she is okay.
A pediatrician we saw recently suggested the possibility of a sedated MRI for one of our two-year-old daughters. It really freaked me out when she told me they would have to sedate her. Thank you for sharing Evelyn's story. Now, I will be sure to avoid that MRI, if we can.
The same pediatrician also recommended that I give the girls infant decongestant a week before they pulled it off the shelves for being unsafe, so we probably won't be going back to see her anyway.
Oh my dear! What a frightening experience.
I agree with the others that have suggested at the very least a camera! Two cameras in the event one goes out, yes, two cameras connected to seperate power supplies and seperate cables to ensure that they have redundancy.
And! I'm not normally one to suggest litigation as I feel it is a major problem, but in this case I think a lawsuit to ensure that this never happens again might be prudent. I mean, honestly, you know they are going to keep things status quo....grrrrr.
I am so glad that Evie is going to be ok! Big hugs to all of you.
Oh, how scary. Glad she's okay.
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