STORM2K

http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/02/22/tr ... index.html

She was taken off the respirators because the brain was not responding.

For those who dont know about this here is the story.

All this began on febuary 7 when she was going to have a transplant of her heart and lungs but the type of her blood didn't match what they operated and the organs did not respond but in the following days someone donated the type of blood as hers and the operation for a second time happened this past thursday.But then the brain didn't respond and then this afternoon the family decided to take her off the respirators.

I can say that a big demand will be on the works against Duke hospital.

I dont blame them for taking her off the respirators. but can you smell a huge lawsuit? I can. Sad.

OMG, I didnt know all that! That is so tragic, and while I do see a lawsuit, no amount of money could take away that pain! God bless her family!

Dangit!! I absolutely hate to hear that!! They did a CTscan of
the brain a day or so ago, and, determined that she had
irreversible brain damage, but, I just hate that the whole thing
ended up the way it did. Yea, Rob, I DO smell Lawsuit City!

Duke has a "special" clause in their paperwork that prevents families from suing them. It is sandwiched in with a bunch of other stuff, and the family signs away their rights to sue, allowing only for arbitration (or something like that) - I sincerely doubt that they (her family) had an interpreter for every paragraph of everything they signed. My prayers are with her family.

What sad news. I hate to hear this and was hoping for the best in this!!!

That is so sad but it makes me FURIOUS that Duke put a clause in there to prevent them from being sued!

I really think there's no way they cant be sued with all the screwups and media hype....this isnt over by any stretch.

So very sad.

Dont worry. there will be some kind of lawsuit. Or a very big hush hush package will exchange hands

Exactly...ther'll be a payoff somewhere.

I bet lawyers are beating down their doors. Poor family. Such a profound loss.

It is so sad, just so so sad!

So sad. And Duke University Medical Center is one of the top 10 facilities in the nation! Just think what is going on in smaller facilities with little funding!!

Medical examiners will determine what ultimately killed a teenager who survived a botched heart-lung transplant but died two days after receiving a second set of organs.

An autopsy was planned Monday on the body of Jesica Santillan, the state medical examiner's office said. A lawyer for the 17-year-old's family said an autopsy was appropriate.

"We just want to make sure we know what the cause of death was," attorney Kurt Dixon said Sunday. "If there's going to be legal action down the road, you want to have a definite cause of death. You don't want to speculate about that."

Family and friends were planning memorial services for the teenager on Tuesday, one public and another private, said Mack Mahoney, a family friend and Jesica's chief benefactor. He said he believed the family, who was in seclusion, would return her body to their home country of Mexico for burial.

Jesica, whose own heart had a deformity that kept her lungs from getting oxygen into her blood, died on Saturday.

She never regained consciousness after her first heart-lung transplant, which her body rejected because the organs didn't match her blood type. Doctors at Duke University Medical Center in Durham said they didn't check the compatibility before the surgery began Feb. 7.

By the time a matching set of organs was found and placed in her body early Thursday, she was near death.

The new organs performed well, but Jesica's brain had swelled and was bleeding Friday. She was declared dead after more than a day without brain activity.

Dixon said Duke doctors took Jesica off life support before her family could contact other physicians to get a second opinion on her condition.

Dr. James Jaggers, the transplant surgeon, said in a taped statement released Saturday by the hospital that he had hoped Jesica would be "one of those lucky few" awaiting heart-lung transplants who actually receive the surgery and do well.

"Unfortunately, in this case, human errors were made during the process" to match the organs with the patient, he said. "I hope that we, and others, can learn from this tragic mistake."

Jesica's family had paid a smuggler to bring them from their small town near Guadalajara, Mexico, to the United States so the teenager could get the medical care, relatives have said.

was she an illegal alien? i dont think she should take resources from united states citizens or legal aliens. those organs are hard to come by.
i dont think any us citizen should pay for an illegal's medical expenses.

Apparently there is much more drama to this story as it seems. I think once this is finally closed, we will learn the sad truth about all the misconceptions of this whole chirade.

Her parents came here three years ago to get help for their daughter. They are not US citizens...but does that really matter. Medicare and Medicaid turned them both down. So its not like they are milking money out of your pocketbook. They would have stayed in mexico if Jesica was healthy, but she wasn't so they came here. That is irrevelent anyways. Have a heart!!

here is her story

http://www.4jhc.org/jesicastory.html

JQ Public wrote:Her parents came here three years ago to get help for their daughter. They are not US citizens...but does that really matter. Medicare and Medicaid turned them both down. So its not like they are milking money out of your pocketbook. They would have stayed in mexico if Jesica was healthy, but she wasn't so they came here. That is irrevelent anyways. Have a heart!!

sorry, but they have no business taking money out of my pocket, and they have no business stealing hard to get organs from a citizen. the taxpayers are paying for this. i do not want every person worldwide to come here and force the us taxpayers to pay for their treatment. not only that, but she was going to die in mexico. an illegal alien has no business suing anyone in the unites states. the hospital screwed up, but she has no business, as an illegal, suing anyone here.

rainstorm wrote:sorry, but they have no business taking money out of my pocket, and they have no business stealing hard to get organs from a citizen. the taxpayers are paying for this. i do not want every person worldwide to come here and force the us taxpayers to pay for their treatment. not only that, but she was going to die in mexico. an illegal alien has no business suing anyone in the unites states. the hospital screwed up, but she has no business, as an illegal, suing anyone here.

Well IMHO the hospital agreed to do the operation and made a tragic mistake and now should suffer the consequences. BTW, what if you or your family was is need of a life saving procedure that was only available elsewhere? Would you want to lose the life of your family member or your own due to the fact you weren't born there? :o America was founded on certain morals and values wasn't it? :o All our family members came here from somewhere else unless your an indian? So IYOP we should have just let her die??? Thats not what my morals and values tell me... Is that what yours tell you???? :o