My Story
In 2010, two of my three daughters experienced preventable medical errors at the same children’s hospital. My youngest daughter was born with high bilirubin, which required an exchange transfusion, after ultraviolet lights didn't slow the climbing bili levels in her bloodstream.
However, because of an air embolism in one of the catheters, she suffered a cardiac arrest that required 45 minutes of cardio-pulmonary resuscitation. Although revived, she had an anoxic brain injury. She turned two in February 2012 and is diagnosed with cerebral palsy. She cannot walk, talk or use her muscles in the same way as other children.
The real challenge is that our nine-year-old daughter has severe cerebral palsy because of a twin pregnancy in which her sister passed away prior to birth. She has had many health-related challenges in her short life. In November of 2010, she underwent a spinal fusion surgery at the same children's hospital.
After her surgery, she received a medication dosage five times her normal at-home dosage. The result of the medication caused respiratory distress and a sleep study was performed. The results were skewed because of the heavy dosage of medication. She underwent a tracheostomy that has since been reversed.
