Parents After their daughter Ailee’s heart stopped unexpectedly and she died in the operation room, Tom and Truc-Co Jung have filed a lawsuit against John Muir Health in San Francisco.
A two-year-old girl died while being operated on in an operating room after a hospital allegedly ignored warnings that they were not qualified to conduct the procedure.
Tom and Truc-Co Jung have filed a lawsuit against John Muir Health in San Francisco after their daughter Ailee’s heart stopped beating unexpectedly and she died tragically in the surgery room.
John Muir Health performed liver resection surgery on two-year-old Ailee, who had been diagnosed with cancer and was receiving chemotherapy treatment at the time of her operation.
Ailee went under anaesthesia just a few hours after her parents said their goodbyes.
San Francisco Chronicle investigators revealed that John Muir Hospital’s senior doctors allegedly ignored a number of warnings about the hospital’s lack of suitable equipment in the weeks leading up to the procedure.
Ailee had been fragile owing to her chemotherapy treatment, according to a statement from John Muir Health, and they had her “provided extraordinary care.”
Cal Knight, John Muir CEO, said: “Life-saving procedures on extremely ill patients are not always successful.
“This fact is most tragic when the patient is so young.”
However, legal filings filed with the Contra Costa County Superior Court revealed that there were concerns about whether the hospital informed the family of critical details prior to surgery.
According to the docs, John Muir Health has never conducted the specialised procedure on a kid before, and the anaesthesiologist who did it had just completed fellowships in paediatric anaesthesia.
Former John Muir medical director Dr. Alicia Kalamas allegedly expressed concerns that Ailee would die during surgery, according to the lawsuit.
However, John Muir Health disagreed with Dr. Kalamas’ assessment, and after her contract was not renewed, Dr. Kalamas filed a lawsuit against the hospital, alleging retaliation for highlighting possible patient safety issues.
Tom Jong told the Chronicle: “Had I known that anyone at the hospital had concerns about their ability to do that surgery, there is no chance I would have done it.”
Ailee’s parents told the website Helping Parents Heal that her heart stopped suddenly after surgery and that no one could explain why.
They said: “We needed answers, so we immediately started studying all about her cancer and everything related to the afterlife.”
According to the Chronicle, no state or federal laws were broken during an investigation into Ailee’s death by the California Department of Public Health.