Story By: Anastasia Smirnova, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
This three-month-old boy has died on board a plane en-route to receiving heart surgery after doctors allegedly ran out of medication and oxygen for him.
The incident took place on a flight from the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky to Khabarovsk in south-eastern Russia when the tot was sitting on a doctor’s lap.
The boy, named Dennis, was born in the 27th week of pregnancy and weighed just 980 grams. He was diagnosed with a heart defect and doctors had to perform a blood transfusion before he was connected to a ventilator.
At the age of three months, Dennis was scheduled to undergo heart surgery in the city of Khabarovsk in October this year.
The doctors reportedly had to rush to ensure the tot underwent the surgery, so they decided to take a regular passenger flight to take the tot and his mother Olga to Khabarovsk.
Reportedly the boy was connected to the ventilator and was sitting on the lap of one of the doctors.
According to Olga the air was hot and stuffy during the flight, and when the plane started descending Dennis suffered a heart attack.
Olga said: “The doctor unbuttoned his overalls and began to massage the heart. The condition returned to normal for several minutes, but the third attack, which was the last, soon followed. It turned out that the medicine and oxygen had run out.”
Even though the flight crew brought the first aid kit and a bottle of oxygen for the child, it could n0t be used, as it was impossible to attach it to Dennis’ breathing mask.
In the end, Dennis’ heart had stopped just 20 minutes prior to reaching Khabarovsk.
The devastated mother still does not understand how the medical team miscalculated the amount of medication needed for the flight.
She said: “After all, the temperature in the aeroplane is different, and the pressure changes during take-off and landing. Why did the resuscitation team not have enough medicine and oxygen to save the child?”
She plans on filing a report with the prosecution office, and it is reported that the Russian health watchdog has already started investigating the matter.
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