New parents are often extremely over-cautious and, at times, paranoid about their baby’s health as they should be, but unfortunately, many doctors brush off concerns of overly-protective parents since their chances of being right are extremely small.
After going through costly and emotionally draining rounds of IVF, 32-year-old Katie Lowe and Mark Griffin, 33, were thrilled when they got pregnant and eventually gave birth to baby Brian last December. However, a few hours after birth, the couple noticed something suddenly looked wrong with their otherwise perfectly healthy baby boy.
Baby Brian’s skin and the whites of his eyes started turning yellow, which are the typical signs that a baby has jaundice. Katie and Mark repeatedly pointed their son’s condition to hospital staff, but doctors instead assured the couple everything was totally normal and chose not to perform the $1 test to monitor the levels of toxins called bilirubin in his system.
13 days later, the levels of bilirubin were so high that they got into his brain, and left him in critical condition. “It was too late, in Brian’s case, before anyone realised how serious it was,” Brian said. “When he was admitted to hospital aged 13 days, it was obvious that there was something really wrong and that it was more than jaundice. The doctors sat us down and told we were told to prepare for the worst. They didn’t think he would make it through the night.”
Brian was given a double blood transfusion, and luckily made it through the night, however, he was tragically left severely disabled. Brian is now completely deaf, has impaired vision, will likely never be able to walk, cannot move voluntarily, and is unable to lift his own head.
“We want people to be aware that jaundice can be dangerous. I’m pretty sure that 60 per cent of babies show signs of it. Unfortunately for my son, they decided he didn’t need testing. People don’t realize it can kill and can also cause irreparable brain damage,” said Brian, who is now spreading their story to show parents how serious jaundice is.
“To be let down by something that is so easily managed and is 100 percent preventable is heartbreaking,” Brian said. “We have had to say goodbye to the son we were born with and try and embrace this new life as best we can. A seven-month-old should be able to sit up and put something in his mouth but he can’t. He can’t move his legs or lift his head.”
Can you believe doctors failed to treat this sick baby after parents repeatedly tried to warn them about his condition? Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please SHARE this with friends on Facebook.
[Featured image: SWNS]
Baby Left Disabled After Doctors Fail To Test For Jaundice is an article from: LifeDaily