Winnipeg mom wants answers after toddler's IV led to swollen, blistered arm
Shared Heath says IV incident at Children’s Hospital being investigated
A Winnipeg mother is looking for answers about how intravenous fluid ended up in her two-year-old son's arm tissue, causing swelling, skin tearing and first-degree burns.
Trilena Francois says she took her toddler, Logan, to the emergency room at the Children's Hospital on the afternoon of Jan. 16 because of a growing cyst on his collarbone.
He was admitted by a doctor and was ordered intravenous antibiotics, she said.
"It was two other ladies who did the IV on him, but … they said the needle wasn't letting them poke his vein to insert the IV. So they took three tries before they actually got the IV in his arm," said Francois.
Logan kept waking up crying throughout the night, she said. When she tried to pick him around 6 a.m., he screamed like he was in pain, she said.
"When I looked through his body I noticed his arm was swollen — like his hand was purple. His whole arm was swollen right under his armpit … to his fingertips," said Francois.
When she called the nurses, they decided to remove the IV, which had been in for eight or nine hours, but his skin peeled off with the IV tape, she said.
"He ended up getting a first-degree burn. But they said thank God I seen it, because if I didn't see it within that hour, he would have lost feeling to his whole arm."
She was told it will get better, but it will get worse before it does.
Shared Health told CBC News in a statement that on behalf of its care teams, it offers "sincerest apologies to this patient and their family for their experience."
The incident is being investigated and the patient relations office is reaching out to the family to discuss their experience, the statement said.
How did the IV go wrong?
Francois says she wants accountability and to know how the fluid ended up in her son's arm tissue instead of in his vein. The nurses told her the IV moved out of place, but they didn't come to check on it every hour through the night as they should have, she said.
She plans on hiring a lawyer.
"I came in for his cyst, and now I am leaving with another incident to his arm. I want the nurses that did it [held] responsible for it, because who knows … they can do it to another kid, they can do it to anybody else," she said.
Logan has now been discharged from hospital, and is on antibiotics and pain killers. The swelling is going down, but the burn and blisters look a lot worse than they initially did, said Francois.
His bandage dressing has to be changed every day until it heals, and "every time he sees his arm, he is scared, because he doesn't know what happened," she said.
"They told me they're just happy they don't have to do surgery. [But] I am terrified to take my kids back there because I didn't expect to come back with his arm bandaged up. He couldn't use his arm for three days.
"He didn't deserve having that pain on his arm."
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