Losing a child is one of the most devastating events that could happen to North Carolina parents. One couple was beginning to grieve the loss of their 7-year-old son when a strange turn of events revealed their son was actually alive. A doctor error made the couple believe they had lost their child.
The young boy has been dealing with a string of medical issues since he was very young. Five years ago, he suffered a stroke, which has kept him on a ventilator since then. Recently, the boy’s mother was filled with terror when she noticed that he was not breathing normally, so he was rushed to the hospital where medical staff tried to resuscitate him, but they pronounced him dead. Doctors said he was in cardiac arrest for nearly half an hour.
Hours after the boy’s “death,” his parents started to make arrangements for his burial and funeral. They were ready to accept their worst fears that their boy had passed away. Though boy’s chest was moving as though he was breathing, doctors told the parents that medication can make it appear that someone is alive when they are not. However, nurses eventually found a pulse, which led doctors to discover that his heart was still beating.
Doctors are calling this a medical miracle, but the boy’s parents are not quite ready to label it as such. The boy was actually alive and the doctors failed to recognize that. They mistakenly declared him dead. Their failure to accurately diagnose his condition could have actually cost him his life and put the parents through an emotional gauntlet.
Doctors have an obligation to accurately provide an indication of a patient’s health. Had medical professionals not been lucky, this boy could have died due to his doctor’s failure to recognize that the 7-year-old was actually breathing, rather than just appearing to do so. This mistake made the parents suffer unnecessarily.
In regard to the doctor’s assumptions, one of the boy’s parents commented, “This is someone who was breathing the whole time.”
Source: WLS-TV, “Heartbeat, pulse found after boy pronounced dead,” Sarah Schulte, Feb. 23, 2012