Does a NYC hospital bear culpability for Cole Jordan Groth, baby boy nearly bleeding to death after what was suppose to be a routine circumcision. Boy has since suffered damage to multiple organs and requiring daily blood transfusions with a long fight still ahead.
A Long Island baby boy is fighting for his life following what should have been a routine circumcision for the newborn at a N.Y.C hospital going horribly wrong.
Cole Jordan Groth was born on March 31 at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital — although he was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease, he was otherwise healthy — and scheduled to go home with his parents to meet his two-year-old older brother at their Long Island house in Lake Grove on April 16.
How did ‘routine’ circumcision go so horribly wrong?
Two days prior, the doctors called Tim Groth, and his wife Gabrielle, asking if they wanted to have their son circumcised, only for what transpired next turning into a ‘parent’s worst nightmare,’ Groth, 35, has shared with media, in a hope that the calamity does not happen to another family.
Within a few hours of the common procedure, the infant nearly bled to death, started having seizures and suffered damage to multiple organs,’ the father said.
The procedure left the newborn ‘pale, screaming and despondent,’ Groth shared with the the nypost.
Over the next 10 days, Cole had to receive daily blood transfusions along with multiple surgeries — including one on his stomach since parts of his intestines had failed due to the blood loss.
The boy, who remains in critical condition, was put on a respirator, given pain medications, along with requiring a colostomy bag to go to the bathroom. The afflicted boy is also now receiving all his nutrition intravenously, Groth said
‘He looks like he’s been through war,’ the father told the nypost. ‘He’s pale, vascular … you see the hole in his stomach for the ostomy bag. Part of me is really angry.
Long island father seeking answers
‘All of it was so avoidable and so unnecessary. Part of me is really sad. My son is obviously suffering … you wouldn’t wish this on your worst enemy.’
The father filed a grievance with the hospital searching for answers.
He explained that his son’s bleeding was discovered by a nurse around 2:30 a.m. on April 15 but it wasn’t until after 5 a.m. that blood work was finally ordered. And the attending doctor wasn’t notified until 8:30 a.m., during a shift change, about what was happening.
‘They failed to stop the bleeding and failed to identify and diagnose how much blood he lost,’ the boy’s father said. ‘You can’t go from a circumcision to a baby nearly bleeding to death and have done things the right way.’
Baby Cole faces a long road to recovery.
He’s expected to remain in the cardiac neonatal intensive care unit for months as doctors hope to eventually perform another surgery to reconnect his intestines so they can remove the colostomy bag.
The family set up a GoFundMe page on April 19 hoping to raise $50,000 to pay for the months of treatment now needed. As of Monday afternoon, the page for Cole had received $61,609 in donations as of Monday night.
Of note, baby Cole hasn’t required a blood transfusion in several days. Nevertheless his parents are bracing for any long-term implications.
‘I spent my time crying,’ Groth said. ‘I’ve gotten to the point now where I have to deal with it. Now it’s a lifetime of we have to figure out what’s the next complication.’
According to the dad, the hospital hasn’t admitted culpability or any wrongdoing. The incident has raised questions of whether NewYork-Presbyterian followed the ‘standard of care’ or ‘act urgently enough.’
While the father hasn’t retained a lawyer, the dad hasn’t ruled out legal actions in the future.
“At the end of the day, we are kind of just still hoping that he lives,” Groth said.
A spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian have declined commenting on the case, citing “patient privacy policies.”
