Davimpa was born poor and black.

[Horse with no Name]

When she was just a few months old, she didn't gain weight. Her mother took her to the doctor.
The Doctor called CPS because they insisted she wasn't being fed.
CPS did an investigation and found that it appeared that the child was being fed, yet she still didn't gain weight.
They admitted her to the hospital to find out if there was a metabolic problem that caused her not to gain.
They didn't find anything and sent her home.
She then started to have respiratory problems....croup and wheezing. It was refractory to treatment.
And, since the mother was poor and black, it was OBVIOUS to the physicians that she had to be doing something wrong with this baby who wasn't gaining weight and wasn't breathing very well.
Now, mind you, this mother took this child back and forth to the doctor when she thought something was wrong. She obviously was concerned about her little girl. However, the doctors didn't find anything in their cursory examinations, so they blamed the mother.
It was the winter of 1989.
Davimpa's mother AGAIN brought her child to the doctor for breathing problems.
The child was obviously having some distress, so the pediatrician admitted her.
That day...she wasn't "right". Her nurse called the doctor several times that day. So many times, in fact, that it pissed the doctor off. He told the nurse that he didn't want to be bothered about "that damned kid" again unless she quit breathing and slammed the phone down.
That last phone call was 30 minutes later. Davimpa had, in fact, quit breathing.
Didn't he feel like a shit.:eyes:
So, the code started on this 18-month old child whose only crime was to be born to a poor, black mother in a white man's town.
We revived her with great difficulty because her airway was obstructed. We called for a transfer since our hospital was out in West Texas. The only place that we could find a spot for this child was in Galveston at John Sealy. The helicopter arrived and she was packaged and away she went.
Davimpa died en route to Galveston.
She never had a chance.
The autopsy results explained everything.
Davimpa's mother had HPV. During the birth process, the virus shed into Davimpa's airway.
When the warts were small, it only caused her to not want to eat. That is why she was failure to thrive.
As the warts got bigger, they occluded her airway causing distress.
Then, when they blocked her airway, there was nothing that could be done.
IF Davimpa had been of a different socio-economic level, the doctor's would have acknowledged that there might have been a problem.
They MIGHT have done any number of tests available that would have detected the warts so that they could have treated them.
Had she been white, I have no doubt that every effort would have been made to find the root cause of this poor child's symptoms.
Rest in Peace Davimpa. Your nurses loved you and we tried.

[BlooInBloo]

1. :(

[Horse with no Name]

3. You are right. It was extremely sad.

I haven't thought about Davimpa in years.
We had a child come in today in full respiratory arrest and it jogged my memory.

[Katherine Brengle]

2. Thank you for pointing out that complication --

I think most people are unaware of it. I had no idea that could happen until I was researching when I was pregnant (bc I had a couple of abnormal paps and possible risk for HPV).

Poor baby :(

[Horse with no Name]

4. She was 18-months old when she died

and she didn't weigh over 20 lbs.
She was so tiny and fragile.
I had a fit when my cousin's daughter (who has HPV also) had a baby and they delivered it vaginally(on Medicaid).
I know of many well-insured women in the same circumstances whose docs do c-sections if there is a question of active warts.

[Katherine Brengle]

5. Substandard healthcare is a travesty...

[Olney Blue]

6. So sad.... another reason to fight HPV with vaccines.

I saw your posts earlier this week in the disturbing threads about Gardisil- I agreed with everything you said.

[Horse with no Name]

9. Thank you.

It is a topic worthy of heavy discussion.

[benddem]

7. I remember a little boy

his mother brought him to the ER every day for a week, complaining that he had a cold. Unfortunately he didn't have any respiratory symptoms. The docs would pat her on the back and dismiss her.
On the 7th day the child was brought to the hospital dead. The child had Diabetes and was urinating all the time and drinking water. The mother in a fit of anger threw the child at a wall killing him.
From that day on we all started listening more closely to the symptoms the mother describes and understand that everyone doesn't have the same knowledge of symptoms that the pros do.

[Horse with no Name]

8. Exactly

One patient that sticks out was a little boy that was seizing.
He was from a "good" family...the docs couldn't figure out why nothing was stopping the seizures.
We shipped him to Temple.
Apparently they shook the child. He has petechial hemorrhages that we never even looked for. We never looked in a fundoscope. It wasn't something you looked for in a "good" family.
Believe me, I always look now.

[fortyfeetunder]

10. Thanks for bringing this out in the open

Shows what type of health care system we really have
One system for the haves and one system for the have-nots.