The parents of a 3-year-old baby girl are questioning the death of their daughter.
On Saturday night Graziela Perez was taken to the KHMH after she swallowed an earring. It had made its way into her right lung and with recommendations from the KHMH she was referred to the Universal Health Services Center where surgery was performed to remove the earring. That was Tuesday morning and she was taken back to the KHMH after the procedure but she remained intubated because the procedure required that she be kept in that state for 24 hours and hat's where things went terribly wrong.
Today her father Carlos Lara told us that under these conditions she was to have remained sedated but she wasn't and his daughter died when she woke up and began to struggle to take out the tube that was in her mouth.
Carlos Lara, Father
"We thought we got over the worst part of everything by having this earring removed and the doctors gave instructions and then she was to be intubated 24 hours and with having that tube in her throat, she was supposed to be sedated until the time of removal. Around 9pm on Tuesday Dr. Gabourel went to see her at the KHMH and he assured me that your daughter is doing very good. He said oxygen saturation was 99% and tomorrow morning he would come and remove the tube. She was asleep and during the night she was in and out of consciousness like somebody waking up out of anesthesia and I questioned the nurse about if she should be sedated and she said the doctors didn't have any order for sedation. Around 3 am she woke up - she was just sleeping and suddenly woke up and she sat up and just started to gargle like she wanted to take out whatever was in her throat and from that moment was when she began respiratory arrest and her airwaves got locked and they tried to revived her for like two hours and at 5 am they pronounced her dead."
Alfonso Noble,
"Was the message carried forward that she was to remain under anesthesia?"
Carlos Lara,
"The two anesthesiologists went along and explained everything thoroughly to the doctors at the KHMH and when Dr. Fernando Cuellar, the KHMH's chief of staff, informed Dr. Gabourel about the death, Dr. Gabourel said well how could she have awaken when she was supposed to be sedated?"
"To me it is very disappointing because the worst part of it I thought was over and she was doing fine all night and then she didn't even attempt to pull out the tube or anything and she was responding very good."
Alfonso Noble,
"So who do you hold responsible for your daughter's death?"
Carlos Lara,
"I hold whichever doctor did not write the sedation order and I think it's a whole part of negligence by the hospital and I am planning to have this look into. I am planning to see a lawyer and see what I can get out of this. I am not doing it cause no money or nothing could replace my child but it is something that is happening at Karl Heusner over and over and somewhere down the road it has to be stopped."
We today contacted the KHMH where the press officer could not comment on the case as it is presently under investigation.