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US Family Sues Hospital Over Botched Tonsillectomy • Mirror Daily

A family from the United States wants to sue a Children’s Hospital over a botched tonsillectomy .

A family from the United States of American is preparing to sue the Detroit Medical Center over a botched tonsillectomy which claimed the life of their 9-years old child. The family accuses the surgeon of having prematurely discharged their child.

Sonia Gambrell wants to sue the Detroit Medical Center (owner of the Children’s Hospital of Michigan), after her 9-years daughter, Anyialah Greer, died at home, hours after being discharged from the hospital.

According to Gambrell, Greer was brought to the Children’s Hospital of Michigan on the 8th of December to undergo a tonsillectomy. Considered one of the most common pediatric surgical interventions, US doctors perform approximately 530,000 tonsillectomies each year.

Statistically speaking, only one in 15,000 individuals dies after this type of surgical intervention, due to anesthesia complications, airway obstruction, and bleeding. However, Greer’s family feels that the doctors could have done more to save their daughter.

Although the necropsy report is weeks away from being completed, Greer’s official cause of death is cardiac arrest. Her family said that the Anyialah started feeling unwell after being discharged, and died after just a couple of hours.

Stricken with grief, Gambrell, Greer’s mother, has already hired a malpractice lawyer and is prepared to sue the Detroit Medical Center. She said that, in her eyes, the main culprit is Greer’s surgeon, Dr. Bianca Siegel.

James J. Harrington IV, Gambrell’s legal representative, who is specialized in medical malpractice, said that there are many unknowns in this case. Moreover, Harrington declared that he is furious about what happened and that the little girl could have been saved if the doctor exercised more caution.

Gambrell’s lawyer stated that the federal law prohibits doctors from discharging their patients if they are not in a stable condition. It would also seem that Greer’s death was not brought forth so much by the botched tonsillectomy, but by her premature discharge.

Harrington IV said that this is far from being an individual guilt. The lawyer questioned what happened in the operating room, and asked what were the anesthesiologist and nurses doing all this time.

This routine operation usually lasts 40 minutes, and the patient has a fast recovery rate. However, it would seem that something went terribly wrong during Greer’s procedure. For now, the family is preparing to bury their daughter, while the lawyer awaits the results of the necropsy.

Image source: Flickr

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