JohnCharles
11-12-2009, 04:54 PM
Very sad story but it speaks to a much larger problem.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/11/hospital.mistakes/index.html
When Kerry Higuera started bleeding three months into her pregnancy, she feared she was miscarrying. Heading to the emergency room seemed like the prudent thing to do.
"She brought me to the CT scan room, and I said, 'Is this really what I need to have done?' And the nurse said, 'Yes, this is what the doctor wants. He wants a CT scan of your abdomen,' and I said, 'OK,'" Higuera remembers.
But then they told the Higueras there was something else they needed to know. "They said, 'We made a mistake; we did something we shouldn't have done,' and I was like, 'What do you mean?'" Higuera remembers. "They said 'There's another patient here named Kerry, and you two are the same age. We mixed you up. She was supposed to have the CT scan, not you.' "
While no large studies have been done on the effects on the fetus of performing a CT scan to a pregnant woman's abdomen, experts say a fetus exposed to radiation can, in some cases, develop physical and mental growth problems
"MOM EXPOSED TO RADIATION DURING FIRST TRIMESTER," reads one comment in the pediatrician's notes. "CHECK DEVELOPMENT!!!"
In the pediatrician's records, it's noted that at 3 months of age, Nathan's head circumference had been in the 73rd percentile, but that at his 1-year checkup it was in the fifth percentile. Pediatricians often consider it a red flag if a child's growth does not stay in the same percentile range.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/11/hospital.mistakes/index.html
When Kerry Higuera started bleeding three months into her pregnancy, she feared she was miscarrying. Heading to the emergency room seemed like the prudent thing to do.
"She brought me to the CT scan room, and I said, 'Is this really what I need to have done?' And the nurse said, 'Yes, this is what the doctor wants. He wants a CT scan of your abdomen,' and I said, 'OK,'" Higuera remembers.
But then they told the Higueras there was something else they needed to know. "They said, 'We made a mistake; we did something we shouldn't have done,' and I was like, 'What do you mean?'" Higuera remembers. "They said 'There's another patient here named Kerry, and you two are the same age. We mixed you up. She was supposed to have the CT scan, not you.' "
While no large studies have been done on the effects on the fetus of performing a CT scan to a pregnant woman's abdomen, experts say a fetus exposed to radiation can, in some cases, develop physical and mental growth problems
"MOM EXPOSED TO RADIATION DURING FIRST TRIMESTER," reads one comment in the pediatrician's notes. "CHECK DEVELOPMENT!!!"
In the pediatrician's records, it's noted that at 3 months of age, Nathan's head circumference had been in the 73rd percentile, but that at his 1-year checkup it was in the fifth percentile. Pediatricians often consider it a red flag if a child's growth does not stay in the same percentile range.