My Son's Experience During a Routine CT Scan in St. Luke's

From: Renato G. Torres rgtorre@rocketmail.com

Subject: My Son's Experience During a Routine CT Scan in St. Lukes's

Attached is the complaint letter we have forwarded to St. Luke's Medical Center's administrators regarding my son's severe allergic reaction a few tears ago. Up to now we have not heard anything from St. Luke's regarding my son's case and the only recourse was to spread the word and the harrowing experience with this "world class hospital" via contacts in the e-mail so that patients be aware and beware of St. Luke's malpractices.

I still could not take away from my memory the pitiful condition my baby was in after the CT scan--with his swollen face to the point that one could no longer see his eyes--while thinking that even when taken to St. Luke's ER and adding insult to injury, my son was slowly dying in front of me while those incompetent ER staff can't do anything about it. The only consolation was me and my wife was with my son and we quickly opted to have my son removed from the premises of St. Luke's and returned to Capitol Medical Center where he was successfully revived from his allergic reaction.

At that time I had to file an an emergency leave and went back to the Philippines for just one week because my 1 year and 8 month old son then was just hospitalized for pneumonia at the Capitol Medical center. He was discharged from the hospital and was already feeling well and scheduled him for a CT scan with St. Luke's. Previously, he was diagnosed with hemiplegia (weakening of the left side of his body) and also with mild cerebral palsy exhibited by his inability to walk normally (he used to walk tiptoeing because of unknown reasons). The routine CT scan was recommended by a pediatric neurologist fro St. Luke's with the hope of determining the cause of his cerebral palsy.

Please feel free to spread the word and share this with our PisayDOS family.

Renatorgtorre@rocketmail.com

Friday, March 26, 2004
Attention: The Medical Director, St Lukes Medical CenterCc : Office of the President, St Lukes Medical Center

To Whom It May Concern:

I am complaining about the way my son’s Cranial Computerized Tomography scan (with contrast) was handled by the CT scan staff and personnel and the paid anesthesiologist, Dr. Feliciano P. Montano and his assistant Dr. Trias, leading to an adverse reaction or allergy (bulging eyelids, rashes, urticaria etc see St. Luke ER report) leading to my son’s treatment in St. Luke’s Medical Center’s pediatric ER and eventual hospitalization at Capitol Medical Center for four days. We believe, with accompanying proof that the required skin test for the dye (contrast) used on our 1 year and 9-month old son was not performed, causing the allergic reaction. (Shown with the timestamp picture and the CT scan timestamp – elapsed time is 11 minutes, not enough time to perform the required standard skin test of 15 minutes). Also, four sets were used for intravenous injection against my son because of the faulty sets they use and the unjust comment of the anesthesiologist about his time being wasted because they are unable to handle the infant, quoting in his own words “Yan ang mahirap pag bata malikot, tingnan nyo nasayang kong oras”. The CT scan was scheduled on March 12, 2004, 7:00am but the actual CT scan was performed at 8:08am. After performing the said procedure, my son was brought to the holding area for recovery. I was also informed that an anesthesiologist or assistant would be on-standby until the patient is fully awake (but when my son woke up, no one from the anesthesiology dept was present). My son showed signs of allergic reaction after recovery from anesthesia approximately two and half hours after the CT scan. The CT Scan staff had to wait for the anesthesiologist who never replied or went back to my son, his patient, to check on the allergic reaction and after much delay, the CT scan staff were eventually convinced to refer the allergic reaction to their own medical center’s pediatric ER, after I have insisted to personally bring him there. At the ER, after injecting with dipenhydramine (Benadryl) and EP (Ephenephrine) my son’s allergic condition worsened and his eyes and eyelids bulged even more to the point where one can not see his eyes anymore (see attached photo). After almost 3 hours in the ER, we were advised to either admit the patient or take him home since the allergy would eventually disappear in 3 days. Because I was not satisfied with the outcome at the ER, I opted my son removed from St. Luke’s Medical Center’s premise and immediately transferred to Capitol Medical Center emergency room, where he was eventually admitted, and treated for his allergic reaction. Attached is the report of Capitol Medical center regarding his admission. In view of this, I would like to request your office to conduct a thorough investigation on this matter and reprimand Dr. Feliciano P. Montano, who is responsible for performing appropriate allergy test(s), for negligence and malpractice. In addition, St Luke’s should pay for ALL the costs caused and incurred by the allergic reaction to my son. The pain, anguish and trauma experienced by the child and parents due to further medication and hospitalization because of these unnecessary and avoidable circumstances.

Sincerely,

Renato G. Torres (Father)
Ma. Elyneir D. Torres (Mother)
Christopher D. Torres (Patient)