Shrike!
2006-09-27 08:57:20 UTC
Chicago Girl In Coma Following Visit To Dentist
Dentist Defends His Practice, Calls Family To Check On Girl
September 26, 2006
http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/9936908/detail.html
Loading Image...
CHICAGO -- The parents of a Chicacgo kindergartener who fell into a
coma after a routine visit to the dentist on Saturday say that pulling
the plug on their daughter, Diamond, is not an option.
Diamond Brown Ridge, 5, was on life support at Children's Memorial
Hospital. She allegedly suffered a heart attack after receiving
intravenous sedation.
A Chicago television reporter said Monday night that the girl's family
has been told that their daughter is brain dead and her vital organs
are severely damaged. Doctors told the family that they must decide
when to take Brown Ridge off of life support. Approximately 20 family
members were scheduled to spend the night in Brown Ridge's hospital
room.
"I just want to know, what did they give my baby to make her just lose
her life?" Omettress Travis, the girl's mother, asked Monday.
Family described the 5-year-old as a charter school student who is
full of life, receiving As and a few Bs, and as a little girl who
loves church.
"I told her 'Time to come home. Wake up. Daddy needs you at home,'"
said her father, Paris Ridge.
"She's gotta come home," he said. "Her daddy loves her (and) misses
her. She's my world and she's gotta go to church."
As the family waited at Children's for any sign of improvement, they
encountered more and more unanswered questions.
The child's mother, who is a medical assistant at Northwestern
Memorial Hospital, told Vatis that she doesn't understand why she
immediately noticed that her daughter was in distress and the dentist
in charge of the procedure did not.
Diamond went to Little Angel Dental, a storefront office on West 26th
Street, to have two cavities filled and her front, bottom teeth
capped.
According to Travis, the dentist gave her a yellow liquid to drink,
then nitric oxide, or laughing gas. On top of that, Travis said, the
dentists gave the 35-pound girl an IV sedation.
Travis said she was asked to leave the room while the dental work was
done. When she returned, her daughter had no pulse and wasn't
breathing.
"They did not monitor my daughter when she was having the work done,"
said the mother. "They also asked me to leave out of the room ... I
didn't know why because I was going to sit there, but they said, 'You
have to get out of the room.' ... At least if they weren't going to
monitor her, I could have watched her."
Another Chicago television reporter said Monday that the office had no
heart monitor of blood pressure cuff, instruments that are required by
Illinois law when sedation is involved.
Last April, Diamond was sedated without incident at Children's
Memorial when she had a broken arm. The family doesn't know what went
wrong on Saturday and they want the health department to shut down
Little Angel Dental.
"He doesn't need a license," the girl's aunt, Danetta Dupree, said.
Dentist Defends His Practice
A Chicago television station learned from the Department of
Professional Regulation that the dentist is licensed, with a special
certification for sedation. The Department indicated that it appeared
the doctor has the correct certification for the work that was
performed on Diamond.
The dentist involved, Hicham Riba, spoke with WMAQ-TV's Carla Eboh
late in the day Monday at his home in Addison. Riba would not go on
camera, but said his thoughts and prayers were with Diamond and her
family. Riba gave the station a written statement defending his
practice.
"I have treated thousands of children since 1997 and many of my
patients require intravenous sedation," Riba wrote. "I am board
certified in pediatric dentistry, licensed for intravenous sedation
and have always been in good standing with all licensing bodies."
Riba said that all sedated patients are monitored throughout their
procedures, but he could not talk about any specific case because of
privacy laws.
The director of pediatric dentistry at the University of
Illinois-Chicago, Dr. Indru Punwani, said it was rare to use three
sedations on a young child, but if a child undergoes deep sedation,
there must be a finger monitor to measure oxygen, pulse rate, and
blood pressure.
"We monitor these very, very carefully," Punwani said. "The monitoring
devices are such that even if the oxygen saturation goes a few points,
we are monitoring it, and we have a stethoscope on the chest, so we
are listening the chest."
This is the first complaint registered against Riba, according to the
state's regulatory agency.
Little Angel Dental did not open for business Monday. Patient after
patient showed up, only to find the doors closed and security gates
locked.
Nathaniel Williams took his 3-year-old son to the office for a Monday
appointment, and said he only learned the office was closed when he
showed up.
"No one called," he said.
Williams said he was supposed to have his son, Nate, sedated for
dental work.
"Now I'm having doubts. I've got to go and talk with my wife about the
whole thing here," he said.
Williams said his 5-year-old daughter, Natalie, was put under sedation
at Little Angel last month, and everything went well. But like other
parents who learned of what happened to Diamond, Williams said that he
was worried for his child's safety.
Diamond remained in critical condition on the second-floor intensive
care unit on Monday afternoon.
"I believe that's a miracle baby. I'm hoping that God sees fit to
bring her back to us, and she's going to be well," said the father.
The dental office was open Sunday until 3 p.m., but no one returned a
reporter's phone call.
WMAQ-TV has not been told if there was a dental anesthesiologist or if
there was an anesthesiologist nurse in the room.
The Chicago Health Department learned of the incident Sunday and is
investigating.
Dentist Defends His Practice, Calls Family To Check On Girl
September 26, 2006
http://www.themilwaukeechannel.com/news/9936908/detail.html
Loading Image...
CHICAGO -- The parents of a Chicacgo kindergartener who fell into a
coma after a routine visit to the dentist on Saturday say that pulling
the plug on their daughter, Diamond, is not an option.
Diamond Brown Ridge, 5, was on life support at Children's Memorial
Hospital. She allegedly suffered a heart attack after receiving
intravenous sedation.
A Chicago television reporter said Monday night that the girl's family
has been told that their daughter is brain dead and her vital organs
are severely damaged. Doctors told the family that they must decide
when to take Brown Ridge off of life support. Approximately 20 family
members were scheduled to spend the night in Brown Ridge's hospital
room.
"I just want to know, what did they give my baby to make her just lose
her life?" Omettress Travis, the girl's mother, asked Monday.
Family described the 5-year-old as a charter school student who is
full of life, receiving As and a few Bs, and as a little girl who
loves church.
"I told her 'Time to come home. Wake up. Daddy needs you at home,'"
said her father, Paris Ridge.
"She's gotta come home," he said. "Her daddy loves her (and) misses
her. She's my world and she's gotta go to church."
As the family waited at Children's for any sign of improvement, they
encountered more and more unanswered questions.
The child's mother, who is a medical assistant at Northwestern
Memorial Hospital, told Vatis that she doesn't understand why she
immediately noticed that her daughter was in distress and the dentist
in charge of the procedure did not.
Diamond went to Little Angel Dental, a storefront office on West 26th
Street, to have two cavities filled and her front, bottom teeth
capped.
According to Travis, the dentist gave her a yellow liquid to drink,
then nitric oxide, or laughing gas. On top of that, Travis said, the
dentists gave the 35-pound girl an IV sedation.
Travis said she was asked to leave the room while the dental work was
done. When she returned, her daughter had no pulse and wasn't
breathing.
"They did not monitor my daughter when she was having the work done,"
said the mother. "They also asked me to leave out of the room ... I
didn't know why because I was going to sit there, but they said, 'You
have to get out of the room.' ... At least if they weren't going to
monitor her, I could have watched her."
Another Chicago television reporter said Monday that the office had no
heart monitor of blood pressure cuff, instruments that are required by
Illinois law when sedation is involved.
Last April, Diamond was sedated without incident at Children's
Memorial when she had a broken arm. The family doesn't know what went
wrong on Saturday and they want the health department to shut down
Little Angel Dental.
"He doesn't need a license," the girl's aunt, Danetta Dupree, said.
Dentist Defends His Practice
A Chicago television station learned from the Department of
Professional Regulation that the dentist is licensed, with a special
certification for sedation. The Department indicated that it appeared
the doctor has the correct certification for the work that was
performed on Diamond.
The dentist involved, Hicham Riba, spoke with WMAQ-TV's Carla Eboh
late in the day Monday at his home in Addison. Riba would not go on
camera, but said his thoughts and prayers were with Diamond and her
family. Riba gave the station a written statement defending his
practice.
"I have treated thousands of children since 1997 and many of my
patients require intravenous sedation," Riba wrote. "I am board
certified in pediatric dentistry, licensed for intravenous sedation
and have always been in good standing with all licensing bodies."
Riba said that all sedated patients are monitored throughout their
procedures, but he could not talk about any specific case because of
privacy laws.
The director of pediatric dentistry at the University of
Illinois-Chicago, Dr. Indru Punwani, said it was rare to use three
sedations on a young child, but if a child undergoes deep sedation,
there must be a finger monitor to measure oxygen, pulse rate, and
blood pressure.
"We monitor these very, very carefully," Punwani said. "The monitoring
devices are such that even if the oxygen saturation goes a few points,
we are monitoring it, and we have a stethoscope on the chest, so we
are listening the chest."
This is the first complaint registered against Riba, according to the
state's regulatory agency.
Little Angel Dental did not open for business Monday. Patient after
patient showed up, only to find the doors closed and security gates
locked.
Nathaniel Williams took his 3-year-old son to the office for a Monday
appointment, and said he only learned the office was closed when he
showed up.
"No one called," he said.
Williams said he was supposed to have his son, Nate, sedated for
dental work.
"Now I'm having doubts. I've got to go and talk with my wife about the
whole thing here," he said.
Williams said his 5-year-old daughter, Natalie, was put under sedation
at Little Angel last month, and everything went well. But like other
parents who learned of what happened to Diamond, Williams said that he
was worried for his child's safety.
Diamond remained in critical condition on the second-floor intensive
care unit on Monday afternoon.
"I believe that's a miracle baby. I'm hoping that God sees fit to
bring her back to us, and she's going to be well," said the father.
The dental office was open Sunday until 3 p.m., but no one returned a
reporter's phone call.
WMAQ-TV has not been told if there was a dental anesthesiologist or if
there was an anesthesiologist nurse in the room.
The Chicago Health Department learned of the incident Sunday and is
investigating.
--
Wanna buy some mandies, Bob?
Wanna buy some mandies, Bob?