In Los Angeles, the hospital is accused of killing a child for organs

Фото: Depositphotos

Cole Hartman arrived at Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles, in serious condition. The heart of the 8-year-old boy did not beat after he nearly drowned, accidentally being in the washing machine.

The health workers managed to restore the boy's heartbeat, but he remained in a coma and on artificial ventilation of the lungs.

Doctors at the UCLA pediatric intensive care unit told the family of the child that irreversible changes have occurred in the brain due to oxygen starvation, adding that it will never come out of coma. This is evidenced by entries in the boy's medical record.

Parents decided to disconnect Cole from the life support apparatus and donate his organs. He was removed from artificial ventilation of the lungs, and after 23 minutes the anesthesiologist stated the death of the child.

It would seem that the peaceful death of 4 a year ago is currently the subject of an investigation by the Los Angeles police and the district attorney’s office.

Investigators are looking for evidence that the anesthesiologist injected Cole with a lethal dose of opioid fentanyl to hasten his death and increase the likelihood of donating his organs. At the moment, no charges have been filed.

An anesthesiologist's lawyer, Dr. Judith Brill, said that such a statement was "in fact incorrect and clearly offensive."
This case is one of the few well-known criminal investigations against doctors related to organ donation, and opens a window into the world of ethical issues.

Home tragedy

Cole was born with Martin-Bella syndrome - a genetic abnormality that causes mental and physical disabilities and, as a rule, manifests itself only in males.

31 July 2013, his father finished mowing the grass on the lawn and went home, where he found Cole, whose head was in a working washing machine. This is stated in the report of the pathologist and in the 911 records. According to parents, Cole's head could stay in the water for up to 25 minutes.

He was immediately taken by ambulance to the hospital of Santa Clarita, after which he was transported by medical helicopter to Los Angeles.
In the pediatric intensive care unit, the Hartman met Prof. Brill.

Professor Emeritus of Clinical Anesthesiology and Operating Medicine in Los Angeles, 65-year-old Brill is considered an expert in the treatment of seriously injured children. She helped write state guidelines for pediatric intensive care and spent most of her free time on medical missions to treat poor children in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

She told Hartmans that a brain scan was "markedly abnormal," and implies significant damage from oxygen deficiency, according to the notes she made in Cole's chart.

The family "unanimously stated that they would prefer to refuse support," and then decided to donate the organs of their son, Brill wrote.

Since Cole’s brain was not dead, and organs could only be removed after this, his life support apparatus was turned off according to a procedure known as donation after cardiac death or DCD.

This type of donation began in the USA in the middle of the 1990s, and is becoming more common in the last decade. DCD accounted for about 10% of deceased donors last year.

Failure of the DCD may be due to lack of time. Organs can immediately begin to deteriorate, and some of them become unsuitable for transplantation after 30 minutes.

Cole was disconnected from the machine in 10: 40, at which time the organ transplant team was waiting outside. It is known that immediately he did not stop breathing. About what happened next, it is not clear and under investigation.

UCLA declined to comment.

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