Eliza's crucial medical files go missing before she goes into surgery

At Cooper hospital, details of her diagnosis went missing from the pediatric ward. Thankfully, the missing files were not a deterrent in the four-month-old Baby Eliza's procedure, which was successful

For baby Eliza Waghmare, Wednesday was a mixed bag. While the four-month-old successfully underwent a surgical procedure at the Cooper hospital to insert the Ommaya reservoir, which is an intraventricular catheter system used to draw in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), a crucial file containing all papers since her birth went missing at the KEM hospital.

Baby responded well
Luckily, for the surgeons treating baby Eliza, the situation at hand was not as challenging as they initially expected it to be. Confirming the development, Dr Shashank Joshi, the neurologist who carried out the procedure which lasted over two hours, said, "We were able to complete the procedure, and luckily, it was uneventful. The baby responded well after it, and did not even require admission into the pediatric intensive care unit."

Explaining how the procedure will help Eliza, Dr Joshi explained that earlier, a neurosurgeon would have to prick Eliza's brain with a long needle to remove the CSF accumulated inside, which was risky. Now, a smaller needle will be required, and CSF will be removed directly from the Ommaya reservoir, which is a temporary arrangement that will ease out regular tapping.

Where are her files?
While the procedure went smoothly, there was a massive hiccup prior to it — KEM hospital misplaced Eliza's crucial file, which contained all of her medical papers since her birth to her discharge from that hospital. At Cooper hospital, details of her diagnosis went missing from the pediatric ward. Eliza's father Arvind said, "The file was kept in a drawer by her hospital bedside, but today [Wednesday] morning when the neurosurgeons asked for the file, it was missing. We alerted the on duty staff and doctors. All their efforts to trace the missing file have gone in vain."

Asked if he has Eliza's birth certificate, Anand replied in the negative stating the discharge card from KEM was important to get it. "I will have to check my computer if I have any soft copies of at least the discharge card and papers pertaining to the diagnosis, which will be very crucial. The hospital administration has assured me they will go through the CCTV cameras and look for the file again," he said. Dr Joshi said, "The file must have been misplaced, and should be found soon." Arvind said, "We're thankful to the doctors for helping my daughter. We've been going through a lot since the last few months, and we're hopeful of our child getting cured soon."

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