“Even the cheeks were burned, the stomach burned completely”
Two-month-old Polinka was the only child in the family. The other day the baby was buried. Mother of the girl Claudia still can’t believe what happened.
- It was a planned operation, which we decided to do after several consultations with a neurosurgeon. - Claudia told FACTS. - When I had an ultrasound during pregnancy, the doctors did not notice any abnormalities. A hernia on the back of her daughter was discovered when she was born. From the maternity hospital, we immediately went to a pediatric neurosurgeon. The examination showed that the hernia does not pose a threat to the daughter’s life. Therefore, the operation was decided to wait. We agreed to return to this issue in two months, and on December 4, Polinka and I came to the neurosurgeon for another examination. The operation was scheduled for December 13th. Postponing surgery to a later date was undesirable: two months later, the daughter grew ten centimeters and the hernia grew with her.
Before the operation, the daughters underwent all the necessary examinations - they did ultrasound, blood and urine tests. There were no contraindications to surgical intervention. The operation began at 12 noon and ended at about 4 pm. I was waiting for my daughter in the ward. A neurosurgeon came and said that he removed the hernia, that he tried to make a beautiful suture. And he added: “But the child … got burned.” Said I could see my daughter in the recovery room.
I waited two hours for the opportunity to enter Polinka. When they finally let me in, I was shocked - my daughter was all in bandages! Belly, back, arms, legs - everything is wrapped up. An anesthesiologist came to us (my mother had just arrived at the hospital). She asked for forgiveness. She said that during the operation, Polina was lying on a special heated mattress and that she herself did not understand how her daughter could get burned. Reassured us that “everything was normal” that the temperature on the mattress was set to the same as always.
We asked how severe the burns were, what exactly was burned, but no one said that. When I asked why almost the entire body of my daughter was bandaged, they told me that “somewhere it burned more, somewhere less,” but they bandaged it all, because “this is a standard procedure.” They also said that Polinka was not conscious, because she was specially kept in a state of drug-induced sleep. I didn’t get any more information from them.
The doctors were very excited. A specialist from the burn department was called. I was told to wait for the next morning. At the same time, they warned me to pump, because the child needs to be fed every three hours. But when I brought milk in the evening, they told me that it was not necessary yet, because the Polintsy were dripping glucose. When they called me at one in the morning, I thought they needed my milk. They told me that my daughter was dead.
See also: “Our son was gone in 10 hours”: In the Vinnitsa region, a pediatrician was sentenced for negligence
Later, according to the conclusion of the pathologist, Claudia learned that 45 percent of the body surface was burned on her daughter.
- When my parents saw Polinka in the morgue, they were shocked - there was no living place on it. the woman continues. - Even the cheeks were burned, the stomach burned completely … Seeing this, we immediately went to the prosecutor’s office. In the conclusion of the pathologist, it is said that death was the result of burn shock. The daughter had burns of I-III degrees. While criminal proceedings have already been opened, there will still be more than one forensic medical examination. But the cause of death is obvious, and it has already been established.
I don’t understand how this could happen. The neurosurgeon who operated on his daughter is shocked himself. And I can’t blame him - he really cared about Polinka and did his job. Obviously, someone from the operating team should have checked the temperature of the rug, but they did not. And the daughter, in fact, burned alive on the operating table.
“I don’t understand why the hospital staff, instead of just apologizing, starts pointlessly making excuses for themselves”
- I understand that no one wanted this and it was not done intentionally, - says Claudia. - But I will never understand why the hospital staff, instead of just apologizing, begins to pointlessly justify themselves. It was very painful for me to read their strange comment on the hospital’s Facebook page that Polina, it turns out, had a severe pathology of the nervous system. I still have medical documents confirming that this is not true. The daughter developed well. She already held her head, knew how to make eye contact, showed interest in toys … And what can we talk about when an autopsy confirmed that burns were the cause of her death?
Read also: “During a medical procedure, the doctor accidentally tore his son’s trachea and didn’t even notice it”
The following comment did appear on the Facebook page of the Rivne Regional Children’s Hospital:
“A two-month-old child was admitted to the Rivne Regional Children’s Hospital with a complex congenital malformation of the nervous system. The child underwent emergency surgery. Unfortunately, the child died the next day. We express our condolences to the family. We ask everyone else to refrain from commenting until the official conclusions of the examination regarding the final causes of the death of the patient.
After users began to speak under this post, the page admin disabled the ability to comment on the post.
In the comments to journalists, the doctors did not say anything about severe pathologies.
“We immediately prescribed emergency treatment, because this is the first stage of a burn disease - burn shock. We immediately began all anti-shock measures and began to provide assistance. The child’s condition remained serious, he was deteriorating in dynamics, and the next day at one in the morning he, unfortunately, died. What happened… Something, probably, with this heating pad. I am not a physicist or a chemist, perhaps something happened there, ” - said in a commentary to the publication “Rivne media” Head of the Department of Anesthesiology Sergey Matveev.
“The technology of surgical interventions for small children provides for heating pads, - said in the comment “Exactly evening” chief physician of the Rivne Regional Children’s Hospital Vitaliy Boyko. - They are disposable and reusable. Considering that the operation was long-term, the doctor decided to use a reusable heating pad. It has already been used. The medical staff assures that there have been no failures in the operation of the equipment before. When what happened happened, everything was done to save the child… We expressed our condolences to the family. We are very sorry that such a tragedy happened. We ourselves are shocked by what happened. We know the doctors who performed the operation. These are experienced professionals. Now we ourselves cannot understand how this could happen.”
Press Secretary of the Rivne Regional Police Department Yulia Mostitskaya reported that criminal proceedings were opened under the article “Improper performance of professional duties by a health worker, which led to grave consequences for a minor.” The sanction of the article provides for up to three years in prison. will follow developments.
Earlier reported that in the Lviv region, the father secured a sentence for the doctors who were responsible for the death of his 12-year-old son.
Source: Fakty
