After undergoing a tonsillectomy procedure, a nine year old girl in Detroit died. The girl, Anyialah Greer, was referred by her pediatrician to undergo the routine procedure to cure her sleep apnea.
Anyialah's family was anxious when a routine surgery about 40 minutes took more than two hours to finish. The procedure was conducted December 8, 2015.
When Anyialah was taken out of the operating room 2:23 P.M., she was bleeding from the nose and drooling. The doctors assured them that all went well.
At 3:05 P.M. Anyialah was given pain killers and discharged. But by 6 P.M. she was dead.
The entire community was so shocked about the failure of the tonsillectomy procedure. Tributes coming in from friends, classmates and teachers calling Anyialah a sweet girl.
Anyialah's 27-year-old mother Sonia Gambrell is suing the Children's Hospital of Michigan.The Children's Hospital of Michigan had just become operational over a year ago.
The mother so upset, said that it felt like a she was dreaming, that could it be easy for her to accept that her daughter is gone. She was questioning how come there was a mistake if the hospital was doing the routine procedure every day.
Tonsillectomy procedure is a common operation performed for children. In the United States it is the third common operation performed, with 530,000 done a year.
The mortality rate for this procedure is one in 50,000.
Tonsillectomy procedure is also commonly done to patients that suffers from sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is chronic disorder which means patient stop breathing while they sleep.
That day, Anyialah also got her adenoids removed. However, this procedure is even safer than removing tonsils.
According to the Fox New 7, Gambrell said after being discharged, her daughter was in and out of sleep. And Gambrell finds it difficult to find the prescribed pain killer due to the government regulation about narcotics supplies.
The family is now waiting a month for the release of autopsy and medical records to be released. The family's attorney, said there are already blinding questions that needs answering.
According to the Daily Mail, Berlin said that there are now two key areas of investigation. First is that why the procedure took longer than it should. Second is why was Anyialah discharge too early.
Detroit Medical Center, which owns the hospital that conducted the failed tonsillectomy procedure declined to comment on any specific questions about Anyialah's care.
