A Hospital’s Blunder, a Mom’s Lasting Pain

By Barb Berggoetz, The Indianapolis Star

Jan. 17–Most high school seniors spend time hanging out with friends and fighting “senioritis.”

Most new mothers care for their babies 24 hours a day.

Not Amber Baise.

Baise, 18, was given an incorrect dosage of a painkiller during childbirth at Methodist Hospital in October, leaving her unable to walk on her own.

Now, three months later, Baise, a senior at Manual High School, is in and out of the hospital with pain so bad, she says, that she pulls her hair and bites and scratches herself — all to divert her mind from the burning in her lower back. She can’t rock her baby daughter, Kylie, or pick her up from her bassinet.

Amber’s mother, Deanna Baise, is frustrated because doctors say they don’t know why her daughter is suffering. They say they can do little besides try to ease her pain. Dr. James Fleck, one of Baise’s neurologists, did not return several phone calls.

During childbirth on Oct. 8, Methodist officials said, Baise received the wrong dose of an epidural painkiller. In one hour, she got a dose that was supposed to be given over 10 to 12 hours. Initially, it left her unable to walk and with severely limited leg movement.

Mistakes like this one are rare, research shows, and epidurals are common — more than 50 percent of women giving birth at hospitals use them, the American Pregnancy Association says.

Since the incident, all epidural infusions at Methodist have been run through a system to identify and prevent incorrect doses, said Jon Mills, spokesman for Clarian Health Partners, the network that runs Methodist, Indiana University and Riley hospitals. In the past, only some drugs could be flagged for dose problems by the system. Also, other clinical staff now verify and oversee the infusions.

In the past three months, Baise has regained considerable movement and can walk short distances with leg braces and a walker. But an unexplained pain in her lower back has brought her back to Methodist five times.

Now, after almost two weeks in the hospital, the family is exploring other medical facilities, where her mother hopes her daughter can get relief from nearly constant pain.

During an interview in her hospital room last week, Baise spoke softly about her problem but then grew quiet. Soon, she was crying, squeezing the hospital bed railings, twisting her legs back and forth and saying, “I want my daddy. Call my daddy.”

“It comes on fast,” said Deanna Baise from her daughter’s bedside as she urged her not to bite herself.

Attorney Nathaniel Lee, who represents the family, is seeking damages. He submitted a complaint on Oct. 20 to the Indiana Department of Insurance against the anesthesiologist, Dr. Gloria Lee, and Clarian Health Partners. The doctor did not return calls, and her attorney, Daniel Fagan, declined to comment.

In Indiana, patients must first go through a complaint process and wait for a ruling from a physicians panel before filing a malpractice lawsuit.

Bill Stephan, senior vice president for corporate communications at Clarian, said in October, “We believe human error entered into the equation.”

Mills wouldn’t comment on the family’s complaint or say whether Clarian is handling all of Baise’s medical bills. But he added that Clarian “stands by most of the comments made last fall.

“We’ve done a number of things for them already,” Mills said, declining to specify. “Our ultimate goal is to help her rehab fully, and we’re working with her to achieve that goal.”

But Lee, the family’s attorney, countered: “In the legal case, they’ve not taken responsibility.”

After Baise gets out of the hospital, Lee said, he intends to have a neurosurgeon and another doctor examine her to try to find a reason — and remedy — for her pain.

“It never goes away completely,” Baise said. “My skin gets hot. On a one-to-10 scale, it stays around a five or six a lot and sometimes gets to a nine or 10.”

When she’s at home, Baise takes care of Kylie as much as possible, feeding her bottles, changing her. But even that is limited.

Between hospital visits, Baise has been able to do school work at home, but she only attended school two days in a wheelchair. She needs fewer than five credits to graduate.

The incident has changed her in more ways than one, her mother says. “She was always on the go. She drove a car, went to school, played basketball,” said Deanna Baise.

Now, her mother can’t get her to go outside. She doesn’t want to see friends or go places. Sometimes she won’t talk to anyone — not her mother, not her doctor.

Deanna Baise doesn’t leave her daughter alone, out of fear she’ll try to hurt herself. “Amber feels at times she doesn’t want to be with us anymore. There’s a lot of anger and depression.”

Last week, Amber Baise started seeing a pain therapist. She says he’s helping her deal with pain spiritually, emotionally and psychologically. She is also talking with a mental health specialist.

Baise, who has started to write a book about what happened to her, said her goal is to graduate this spring.

“I’m working real hard so I can walk down the aisle without my braces.”

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