I had lunch with a classmate today that told me of a very disturbing story that she saw about a year or so ago on TV...not on the news but on one of those shows that does a documentatary on crimes, etc.
I am trying to see if anyone has heard of this story.
The story:
Parents brought a baby into the ER in respiratory distress...baby was under a year old, about 6 months, give or take.
At some point during treatment the baby appeared to stop breathing, the Pediatrician that was in the ER, that was very prominant in the area, pronounced the baby dead...the parents left the room.
A nurse was told to go to the baby to perform post-mortem care and when she returned to the room the baby was moving. She then noticed that the baby's color was returning--not exactly a case of post-mortem twitching.
She was able to get a full set of VS on the infant and screamed for the doctor to come back into the room in a panic to get the parents because the baby was still alive.
Supposedly the Pediatrician kept insisting to the nurse that the baby was not alive. The nurse said, "Are you crazy? Look at it? I just took a full set of vitals."
Then the nurse watched as the doctor picked up the baby, put it's hand over the baby's mouth and nose, and said, "We are not calling the parents back in here after I have already told them the baby is dead."
He suffocated the infant. The parents were never called in, the nurse didn't say anything out of fear, and the baby was buried.
Supposedly, about a year later, the nurse couldn't take it anymore and finally reported what the Pediatrician did, a full investigation..but she couldn't remember what happened to him.
Has anyone seen this?
To me, if I was the nurse, that would have been the day I would have lost my job....no way could I have sat there and watched a doctor suffocate and infant that I just took vitals on even if I had to call security or physically remove the infant from him myself.
The case involves a three day old infant, Conor McInnerney, who stopped breathing due to unknown causes while nursing and was brought by ambulance at night to the emergency room of a small local hospital on January 12, 1998. On arrival at the ER, Conor had no heartbeat and no spontaneous breathing, despite resuscitation efforts by paramedics. Resuscitation continued at the hospital, during which time the physician in question, Dr. Eugene Turner, arrived and took over the resuscitation process. After considerable time had passed, the baby had a pulse but was still not breathing on his own. The estimated time that Conor was without spontaneous breathing, and thus was deprived of oxygen, was apparently at least 39 minutes and possibly longer. Dr. Turner advised the parents that the prognosis was dismal for such a patient and that Conor had suffered severe brain damage, including both the cerebral cortex and brain stem. The parents agreed that life support be discontinued, and when this was done, Conor was without both pulse and respiration. He was declared dead.
Approximately 30-45 minutes later, a nurse discovered that Conor was making agonal breathing efforts--not normal respiration but occasional gasps. Resuscitation began again. After about an hour, Dr. Turner was left alone with Conor, who still had a weak heartbeat and agonal respiration. At this point, a nurse observed Dr. Turner pinch Conor's nose and place his hand over his mouth, reportedly saying "I can't stand to watch this go on much longer" or words to that effect. Soon after, Conor was pronounced dead again. The approximate elapsed time between Conor's first cessation of respiration and the second declaration of death was four hours. Dr. Turner has not denied his actions and claims that Conor was dead according to brain criteria at the time he acted. Washington law is consistent with that of other jurisdictions in the United States in defining brain death as irreversible cessation of function of the entire brain, including the brain stem (which controls spontaneous respiration). Although the criteria for determining brain death in infants are controversial and less apparent than for adults, it appears clear that absence of any respiratory efforts (apnea) is an essential element of determining brain stem death. However, it also appears virtually certain that Conor had suffered massive and irreversible brain damage, even if he did not meet the full criteria for brain death.
What the heck was wrong with that nurse?????? I would have been giving him a swift kick in the kohonas so make him turn that baby lose! That nurse has copability in that baby's death.
I remember seeing the case on TV, too. It was horrible. The baby was just a few days old when he died. I remember that the entire town came out in SUPPORT of the doctor. He was apparently the only Pediatrician and was just adored by everyone. I have difficulty understanding the "not guilty" verdict. As was previously reported, another MD in the ER that night snapped and went home and beat his wife to death. Another ER employee that night was fired and sued for standing up for the rights of the baby and the family. And the parents of the child have since divorced because of the strain. It's just sad all the way around.
Someone wrote a book about this case; I found it at a garage sale and was glad that was the case because it was completely unreadable and I gave up a few pages into it.
I thought it was about the death of Conor McInnerney, but that was only in there to introduce the real story which was about the other doctor who killed his wife.
I just did searches on Google and Amazon, but can't find the title.
As for his parents divorcing, they were barely out of high school and very well might have anyway.
NurseCard, ADN
2,850 Posts
Wow. Unbelievable. No WAY could I have just sat there and let that doctor do that; my job, my livelihood be **DAMNED**.
I'm sorry. I just couldn't. No way.