Teen left brain dead after tonsil surgery

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Teen left brain dead after tonsil surgery
Associated Press | December 16, 2013

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — A 13-year-old Northern California girl is brain dead after going into surgery to remove her tonsils.

KGO-TV reported Sunday that Jahi McMath's family is demanding Oakland Children's Hospital conduct an investigation after she went into cardiac arrest and died, before being brought back by hospital staff. Jahi is brain dead and on life support.

Doctors said the surgery would help with Jahi's sleep apnea, but there were complications during her recovery last week. Her mother Nailah Winkfield said Jahi had "actual clots" sliding out of her mouth, which her mother was told to catch in a cup for hospital staff to measure.

A hospital spokeswoman said in a statement that any surgery is risky and that the hospital would investigate what happened. She didn't provide details on the surgery.


Read more: http://www.chron.com/life/healthzone/article/Teen-left-brain-dead-after-tonsil-surgery-5068086.php?cmpid=hpbn

[Judi Lynn]

2. I just corrected that. Embarrassing! Thank you for the "heads up." n/t

[TexasProgresive]

3. This could've been my high school sweetheart.

She had a tonsillectomy at 5 and reacted badly to the anesthesia. Her heart stopped-no crash carts in those days. The surgeon sliced open her chest and manually massaged her heart back to normal rhythm. She lives with that life giving scar to this day.

All surgery is risky especially under general anesthesia. That why there is an anesthesiologist to keep the patient in that borderland between consciousness and death. And everyone reacts differently.

[TwilightGardener]

4. Not nearly enough info here to know what happened.

"Clots"--did she hemorrhage almost to death? Did she have some sort of clotting malfunction (either drug-induced or natural) post-op? Was her airway obstructed? Anesthesia problem? Kind of a frustrating article.

[Warpy]

5. They might not know what happened at this point

and that's why they're investigating.

Medicine runs on risk/benefit percentages. Some people can and do die from minor surgeries like tonsillectomies. People have to be running into breathing trouble because of enlarged tonsils to be considered for it today, it's not done just for chronic sore throat in kids any more.

[CTyankee]

6. Back in the day, tonsils and adenoids were removed when you were little as the thing to do.

I believe mine were removed when I was about 4 years old (I remember my father carrying me out of the hospital because I didn't want to be in a wheelchair). This was just routinely done.

Now that has all changed. My granddaughter had the surgery after repeated, severe bouts with tonsilitis. In her case, it was necessary. The surgeon said her tonsils were in terrible shape. She had an awful time recovering and had a LOT of post op pain. And she couldn't eat.

Evidently, if tonsils are removed at a very early age the child doesn't suffer as much as later, in my granddaughter's case, age 17. At that point, the surgery really sucks.

[Hestia]

19. I had the same problems - finally got them out at 16 because all the recurring bouts of

strep. I used to get it 4 or more times a year; out of school a lot and barely passed 9th & 10th grades because of it. Back then you could miss 30 days a year and not be held back. What is it now - 3 days? WTH?

At the time I was mad the doctor - he insisted that I get them out in the summer so I wouldn't miss any school so I could get my grades back up. I guess thinking back on it I didn't get strep in the summer so there was that. Mom said he told her my tonsils were much much worse than he originally thought. Felt like it took forever to recover. Even popsicles hurt.

Cool thing afterwards was I never got a cold or flu until I was 30. I should have had them out at a younger age too.

[cspanlovr]

7. Back in the day (70's) I worked for a general surgeon

in NYC. He was a fearless and very excellent surgeon. He once told me he would never do a tonsillectomy, and I was so surprised. He said its much trickier than you'd think. Blood can get into the lungs and then its over for the patient.

[tblue]

18. Wow. I remember when it was commonplace.

I was a candidate but didn't have the surgery. Egad. This is SO SAD! Poor little girl and her family!!!

[CTyankee]

21. So that's why they don't do them very often any more! I thought it was because any surgery in

the head is just too close to the brain.

Oh, lord, that poor family...what they must be going through...

[NV Whino]

8. That's a rather confusing headline

Left brain dead as opposed to right brain dead, or totally brain dead. One wonders about the brain deadness of the reporter.

[MoonchildCA]

9. I don't think it's referring to left vs. right...

... but the verb "left." As in "she was left brain dead."

[NV Whino]

13. Yes, I figured it out after reading a bit

But the headline did leave me wondering how one could be left brain dead and not right brain dead.

[BigDemVoter]

16. Funny you wrote that, as I had that same impression upon first reading it!

[riderinthestorm]

10. My sister "coded" during a colonoscopy. Whenever you go under anaesthesia there's risk

I feel so badly for this family.

My sister's episode during the colonoscopy destroyed her kidneys and liver (she received transplants 18 months ago).

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

12. Holy crap! I hope she's doing ok now.

That's a hell of an outcome from a common procedure.

[riderinthestorm]

15. She is, she is!

[happyslug]

11. Some of the California papers on this:

http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_24729226/oakland-girl-13-declared-brain-dead-after-tonsil

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Oakland-8th-Grader-Brain-Dead-After-236015681.html

http://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2013/12/15/girl-is-brain-dead-after-surgery-to-remove-tonsils/

http://www.insidebayarea.com/news/ci_24734296/oakland-family-girl-brain-dead-after-tonsil-surgery?source=rss

[Brigid]

14. My great-aunt died in her twenties of complications from a tonsillectomy.

That was back in the forties.

[BigDemVoter]

17. There is a really, really rare anesthesia complication. .

It's called malignant hyperthermia where the body just heats up and basically "cooks" the patient. . . This is why the anesthesiologist will usually ask if the potential patient has had a family member who died unexpectedly during any type of surgery. Evidently it runs in families. Operating rooms are stocked with a special drug, Dantrolene Sodium, which they have to keep in a cooler just in case of an emergency. They must keep quite a big stock of it, as the treatment requires large and frequent doses to reverse the complication.

[crim son]

20. I had a similar complication when I had my tonsils removed as a child of about seven.

The surgery went okay but a couple days after coming home (no outpatient nonsense back then!) I started to bleed from my nose and mouth. A lot of what came forth was in the form of large clots. My dad was a physician and at first thought it was something he could handle at home but I ended up in the emergency room with a tube down my nose. I think they cauterized some blood vessels. Anyhow, I found out later it was a pretty serious deal... definitely scared the hell out of me. So sad about Jahi McMath.