Toddler's Hand, Feet Amputated After ER Wait
A 2-year-old California girl was forced to wait five hours in the emergency room to receive treatment. The delay may have cost her both of her feet and one of her hands, which she had to have amputated
Malyia Jeffers, 2, was waiting in the ER at Methodist Hospital in Sacramento while fighting a serious Strep A infection. She is now at Stanford University's Lucile Packard Children's Hospital. Malyia Jeffers is still on a ventilator and kidney dialysis following the December amputations.
"This is the hardest thing I was dreading the most... was having to make a decision ... They said 'your daughter's dying and the only thing we can do to save her is to amputate.'" Malyia's dad, Ryan Jeffers told Fox40.
Jeffers was taken to the emergency room after her parents noticed that she was sick. Doctors originally believed she simply had a cold, fever and rash. However, as the Strep overtook her body, she went into liver failure and fell critically ill. She was later flown to the children's hospital in Palo Alto where the amputation occurred.
While Malyia's parents have medical insurance, many of their daughter's bills will go uncovered, including a $26,000 tab for her helicopter ride from Sacramento to Palo Alto, Jeffers said, The Daily Mail reports. The Methodist Hospital in Sacramento is likely to eventually face a lawsuit over the amputation case. However, it is important to keep in mind that regardless of whether the hospital is found at fault, under California tort reform passed in 1975, the maximum the family would be able to recover for their pain and suffering is $250,000.
Related Resources:
- Sacramento girl waits five hours for treatment (The Sacramento Bee)
- California's Tort Reform Puts Injured Patients at a Disadvantage (FindLaw)
- Trend: Medical Malpractice Tort Reform - Accidents and Injuries (FindLaw)
