Babies uneccessary death!!

[RN92]

i posted this in the peds section....but every nurse needs to read this story of a child who died while in the hospital of dehydration,despite the mothers concerns - it will make you a better nurse. a written version of her speech to the residents at johns hopkins can be found at www.josieking.org/speech.html. we have got to quit being so defensive when pts or pts families ask questions regarding their care. if they question what you are doing - stop- and explain to them what is going on and why you are doing what you are doing.

[lsyorke, RN]

What a tragic story!! We can all learn from this. They really missed alot of basic stuff in a series of errors. Very Sad!

[Darlene K.]

Such a sad story. The entire system failed this child.

[cannoli]

What was the reason for the child's hospitalization?

[IamRN]

What was the reason for the child's hospitalization?

From the article

In January of 2001 Josie was admitted to Johns Hopkins after suffering first and second degree burns from climbing into a hot bath. She healed well and within weeks was scheduled for release. Two days before she was to return home she died of severe dehydration and misused narcotics. I would like to take you through the events that resulted in this needless tragedy.

[stressednurse]

I cant seem to access this site with the mothers statement. Please offer a link. Thank you.

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

I cant seem to access this site with the mothers statement. Please offer a link. Thank you.

http://www.josieking.org/speech.html

[NotReady4PrimeTime, RN]

There has to be more to this story. I can't think of anything that would cause a 15% weight loss in a toddler in less than 24 hours that would go unnoticed. The narcotics and the dehydration seem to have nothing to do with one another. And no child would be NPO without adequate IV fluids. The mom offers no information about any investigations or autopsy reports. Sad, yes. But there's more to it.

[jemb]

Sad story, but I don't understand from the mother's speech the reason for her death . I'm wondering if anyone here has more information from news reports at the time of the child's death.

Was the central line supposed to be left in for hydration? Was she supposed to be taking oral fluids? Were orders not communicated or symptoms not reported?

Was she not supposed to have gotten the narcotics at all, or not supposed to have gotten the methadone? The mother says that nurse was behaving strangely after the child coded. Why? Had she given the drug to the wrong patient?

Was the unit severely understaffed, or had inconsistent staffing so the staff had no reference from one day to the next that the child's condition was deteriorating? No one noticed that she was getting no fluids?

Also wondering if this happened in June ( or whatever month) when the interns and residents were brand new at their jobs.

[memphispanda, RN]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/health/bal-te.sorrel14dec14,0,5578677.story

Lots more info in that story.

[RN4NICU, LPN, LVN]

There has to be more to this story. I can't think of anything that would cause a 15% weight loss in a toddler in less than 24 hours that would go unnoticed. The narcotics and the dehydration seem to have nothing to do with one another. And no child would be NPO without adequate IV fluids. The mom offers no information about any investigations or autopsy reports. Sad, yes. But there's more to it.

I thought the exact same thing. I've never seen a kid (or anyone else for that matter) NPO without an IV.

[nycegyrl]

I read all the story at the links provided and I am speechless.