Slow Down Surgery

My Comments in 2021--

1. These posts were hard to write. 

2. Medical centers in the United States need to treat their international patients with the same respect that they treat their "normal" insured patients. 

3. As described below, CHOI delayed heart surgery on sick Haitian kids.

4. It is very clear to me and many others that worked at OSF that young Haitian lives are being held in jeopardy. OSF administrators were making medical decisions on my Haitian kids. Doctors and nurses are afraid to speak out for good reasons. Keith Steffen had told me in December 2001 that fear is a good thing amongst employees at OSF. 

5. I wrote Bishop Jenky about the fact that surgeries were being delayed and did not receive an answer from him. Several months later I told Monsignor Rohlfs that surgeries were being delayed and he replied, “If it ever happens again, let me know.” 

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On June 27, 2002, I brought a 9 pound 4-month-old Haitian baby named Samuel to OSF-SFMC for heart surgery. Samuel is a “blue baby”. The pediatric cardiologist saw Samuel shortly after our arrival in Peoria and recommended surgery in one week. Surgery was postponed week after week for unknown reasons.

Unfortunately, Samuel suffered a respiratory arrest in his foster family’s home in Roanoke, Il. Their seventeen-year-old daughter performed CPR on Samuel and he was able to survive the ambulance ride to the emergency department. I met them there and with the help of the ED staff continued his resuscitation. By the grace of God, Samuel survived and two weeks later had heart surgery with a successful outcome. 

Shortly after Samuel’s arrival in the emergency department after his arrest, I spoke with Paul Kramer, Executive Director of Children’s Hospital. He told me that OSF administration was not involved in the six-week delay prior to Samuel’s arrest. When I talked to Kramer, Samuel’s host mother was present and she told Kramer she did not believe him. He was a critically ill baby whose cardiologist had recommended surgery within one week as mentioned above. Samuel barely survived a life-threatening event and a horrific event for the foster family to experience."

As 2002 progressed, I thought that the Haitian kids surgeries were being scheduled very slowly. Why the delay?

Katheline was another example. She was a two year old with several congenital heart defects who was examined for the first time by her pediatric cardiologist at Children's Hospital of Illinois on October 16, 02. She had an echocardiogram in his office and needed to have cardiac catheterization to further delineate her abnormal cardiac anatomy.

Week after week went by and the cardiac catheterization was not scheduled. Her host family wondered what was happening. And her cardiologist was upset with the delay as well.

In mid-November, I attempted to talk with her cardiologist three times in one day, and he would not return his page. He was new to Peoria and I think he was afraid to talk about this sensitive topic with me.

On November 22, I took a friend of mine who is a Catholic Sister in Peoria to the pediatric cardiology office with me and we went in and spoke with Sandy, one of the cardiology nurses who had always been very helpful with all of the Haitian kids over the years. I asked Sandy if Katheline was scheduled for the catheterization. She said “no”. I asked her why. Sandy stated that Paul Kramer told another cardiologist not to schedule Katheline because of money. I thanked Sandy for her help. She seemed quite embarrassed to have to give the news to me about this child. Sandy was a good nurse and knew very well what was happening here with Katheline.

Sister and I walked to Paul Kramer’s office about 2:15 PM. We sat outside Paul’s office for about 15 minutes prior to being invited in which gave them time to run and get an assistant administrator to be in Paul’s office when we came in. We were then invited in and Paul politely introduced himself to Sister. Before we sat down, I requested a private meeting with Kramer and asked if the well-placed assistant administrator would leave. (I had learned that OSF administration was really good about out numbering me during my visits with them during the previous year.) The administrator was more than happy to leave. (Kramer acted like he was shocked that I wanted the guy to leave.)

Anyway, Sister and I sat down. I asked Paul if he new “Katheline’s story”. It took me five different ways to ask the same question before Paul would even say he knew who Katheline was. Sister was getting the point very quickly as we sat around the small table in Paul’s office at Children's Hospital.

During our conversation, I asked Paul in multiple different fashions if he knew that Katheline was not scheduled for surgery. He finally said “no” that he did not know that she was not scheduled for surgery. (Paul did not know that we had just been in the cardiology office.) I looked frequently at Sister and asked her if she heard that response and she would nod yes. I then asked him if he knew that she wasn’t scheduled for her cardiac catheterization. Again, he did not directly answer the question. After much prodding by me, he admitted that he had spoken with a pediatric cardiologist and told him to defer the procedure for now. I asked him if he had spoken with Katheline’s frustrated new young pediatric cardiologist and he wouldn’t tell me. Why all the secrecy? I told Paul that the pediatric cardiology office was still open, the nurses were there, and he could lift his order on Katheline's cardiac procedure.

Haitian Hearts built a house this past summer that we called “Haitian House”.The house closed in November and 177,000 dollars is now available for OSF that will help defray the charges for the Haitian children’s surgeries. I asked Mr. Kramer on Friday if that money would influence him regarding proper care for Katheline. His answer was “yes”. (In December the 177,000 dollars from the house was donated to CHOI for the medical care of Haitian children at CHOI. And in 2002, Haitian Hearts donated a total of 445,000 dollars to CHOI.)

Sister and I left his office as Paul was berating me and we walked down the main hall at OSF. I said to Sister, “Welcome to St. Francis.” She looked absolutely mortified and drained from her experiences that afternoon. I really needed a witness to these conversations and she was perfect to have at my side.

Several days passed and Katheline remained off the schedule for cardiac catheterization. Katheline’s host father worked at OSF, so he really couldn’t do or say much if he wanted to keep his job...just like Katheline's pediatric cardiologist. 

The following week I called Linda Simpkins, RN who is in charge of the Pediatric Resource Center at OSF-CHOI. Linda does a great job dealing with children that are abused and neglected in central Illinois. I made a formal complaint against Paul Kramer and CHOI for institutional neglect of my Haitian patient, Katheline. Linda was very nice and took the complaint very seriously.

Several hours later, I was called and Katheline was scheduled on the following week's catheterization schedule. She sailed through her cath and then had surgery and did very well.

I was Katheline’s doctor, guardian, and her parents had put Katheline in my arms in the Haitian airport since they were unable to travel with her for her heart surgery in the United States. Katheline’s host family, Haitian Hearts, and I had an enormous responsibility to do the right thing for this little girl.  

What would you have done if Katheline were your child? Would you have advocated for her?

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