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Patient safety is the No.
1 core value of our health system. A huge component of patient
safety is doing the right things, each and every time.
Here is an incident that happened recently in our Obstetrics
Triage Unit at HealthPark Medical Center, where the
quick-thinking actions of our team helped save the life of a
woman and her newborn child.
Destiny Savakinus knew the afternoon of May 4 that something was
wrong. She was having upper abdominal pain and was vomiting. She
thought maybe she had gotten food poisoning or had an upset
stomach, but she considered her unborn child and wasn’t willing
to take any chances. She did the right thing and called 911.
Lee County Emergency Medical Services quickly arrived at her
home. They also did the right thing, transporting her to the OB
Triage Unit at HealthPark, which specializes in high-risk
obstetrics. In fact, we provide one of only 11 state-designated
high-risk obstetrics programs in all of Florida.
Destiny began to grow faint when she was being evaluated. Her
blood pressure—and her baby’s heart rate—dropped dangerously
low. Mom and baby were “crashing.” The nurses in the Triage Unit
did the right thing by contacting obstetrician David Brown,
M.D., who was at the hospital delivering another child.
Dr. Brown quickly assessed the situation and immediately took
Destiny into the Operating Room for an emergency C-section.
During the procedure, he discovered that her abdomen was filled
with blood, so he did the right thing by calling in a general
surgeon.
The general surgeon on call, Tom Carasquillo, M.D., was already
involved in another procedure at a different hospital, however,
and suggested the Administrative Nursing Supervisor and
Supervisor for The Children’s Hospital of Southwest Florida
contact Charles Boggs, M.D., a general surgeon who lives close
to HealthPark. Dr. Boggs left immediately, only taking enough
time to do the right thing by calling in another surgeon, Thomas
Kowalsky, M.D. The main OR staff responded immediately in
preparation for emergency surgery.
Drs. Boggs and Kowalsky soon discovered that Destiny had a
ruptured splenic artery aneurysm. A splenic artery aneurysm is a
weakening of the wall of the artery that supplies blood to the
spleen. The rupture—which is what caused her abdomen to fill
with blood—occurred when the artery wall became too weak and
thin as a result of the aneurysm. Only about 1 percent of the
population is affected by splenic artery aneurysms, and when a
rupture occurs, the mortality rate increases dramatically.
Destiny’s case was made even more serious because of her
pregnancy. In that instance, the mother has a 70 to 75 percent
chance of mortality, and the child has a 90 to 95 percent chance
of mortality.
This case could have turned out very differently if our team had
not made the right decisions at every turn to save the life of
Destiny and her child. Thanks to impressive physician and staff
teamwork—which included drawing on clinical expertise that
something did not seem right—the right things did happen.
Destiny spent two days in the Intensive Care Unit and is doing
well. The baby was taken to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and
is also doing well.
This is far from the first time the Savakinus family has sought
care at Lee Memorial Health System. Their older son is receiving
treatment for his leukemia through our Pediatric
Oncology/Hematology program at The Children’s Hospital.
Peace,
Jim Nathan
President, Lee Memorial Health System
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