The Children’s Hospital Lawsuit

Here’s a story about the El Paso Children’s Hospital, headlined Family Alleges Profit Motives Played Role in 3-Year-Old’s Death – Parents charge care delays for child with hydrocephalus were tied to arrangements for star doctor. From MedPageToday.com:

Three-year-old Ivanna Saucedo was a miracle child, according to her father David.

Ivanna was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the brain, while David Saucedo’s wife Mariana was still pregnant. But the Texas couple’s little girl exceeded every expectation after her birth, Saucedo told MedPage Today.

Not only did Ivanna walk, she danced, he said. And not only did she talk, she was bilingual.

Three-year-old Ivanna Saucedo was a miracle child, according to her father David.

Ivanna was diagnosed with hydrocephalus, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the brain, while David Saucedo’s wife Mariana was still pregnant. But the Texas couple’s little girl exceeded every expectation after her birth, Saucedo told MedPage Today.

Not only did Ivanna walk, she danced, he said. And not only did she talk, she was bilingual.

However, on Sept. 2, 2019, Ivanna passed away days after being admitted to El Paso Children’s Hospital.

. . .

On Aug. 29, 2019, Ivanna Saucedo began throwing up at home. Concerned, her parents sought the care of Roberto Canales, MD, a well-known El Paso physician, at his local medical clinic.

Canales concluded that Ivanna needed emergency medical care and instructed the Saucedos to take their daughter to the emergency room at El Paso Children’s Hospital, according to the Saucedo’s complaint. He promised he would follow them there and treat Ivanna personally.

At the hospital, staff abruptly moved the Saucedos from the emergency department to a room on the hospital’s ninth floor, according to the complaint.

The Saucedos claim that hospital staff explained that Canales would arrive shortly, and that only he could treat Ivanna. Overnight, the Saucedos claim they pleaded for help as they watched their daughter’s condition deteriorate, only to continue to be told that Canales would arrive soon. But almost 12 hours later, Ivanna went limp and turned blue, and began to foam from the mouth.

. . .

The hospital’s emergency trauma team finally agreed to treat Ivanna, sedating her and transporting her to the pediatric intensive care unit, according to the complaint. Canales didn’t arrive until after 9 a.m., and he and another doctor named in the complaint, Rodolfo Fierro-Stevens, MD, assured the Saucedos that Ivanna would soon wake up, the Saucedos stated in court documents.

. . .

Ivanna never woke up, and she was ultimately declared brain dead.

In the U.S., hydrocephalus occurs in two of 1,000 births, and patients often have a full lifespan if hydrocephalus is caught early and treated. Typically, children need two to five surgeries throughout their life to maintain their shunts.

Read the rest of the story, and the hospital’s perverse financial motives alleged in the lawsuit, at MedPageToday.com.