Alisa Iacovelli
The Josie King Story
I have attended many of the events that have been occurring at Stockton. A lot of them were fun and interesting to go to; , however, the most memorable event so far was definitely the Josie King story. I attended this event on October 2nd as a required presentation for my Intro to Health Sciences class. Josie King’s mother, Sorrel King, came to Stockton to speak to the health science students about her story. I had no idea how moving this presentation was going to be.
Sorrel King is a mother who has experienced something that no mother should ever have to go through. Her daughter, Josie, was 18 months old when she suffered first and second degree burns from climbing into a hot bath. Josie was admitted into Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins hospitals, one of the top hospitals in the country. While Josie was in the hospital, Sorrel and her husband Tony were constantly by her side. The parents became friends with the nurses and doctors. The people taking care of fall the children were amazing and always at their best. Josie was recovering rather quickly, so her doctors decided to move her down from the PICU to the Step Down Unit. Sorrel was told that this meant they will be going home soon. She was nervous about moving but was told that no one has ever been sent back up from the Step Down Unit to the PICU.
Once Josie was moved and settled in, her mother noticed that Josie was getting really thirsty. The nurse suggested that the mother feed her ice chips. After feeding her, the doctor said Josie looked great and can go home in two days. Josie’s central line was taken out. While Josie was taking a bath, she was sucking on a washcloth, and when she was put to bed, she looked skinny, tired, and lethargic. Sorrel wanted to call a doctor but the nurse said that Josie’s vitals were fine. A second nurse was called in to check on the baby, and she also said Josie was fine. Sorrel went home for the night but called twice throughout the night making sure she was okay. When she got back in the morning, she firmly requested that the nurses came to look at Josie right away but she was told to wait until after rounds. Sorrel mentioned how she always wanted to be the mom that was easygoing and helpful. She didn’t want to be annoying but that day she knew that she had a duty and she forced the nurses to come help. The nurses gave her gatorade to quench Josie’s thirst, and two shots of Narcam. The doctor said that Josie looked much better and could skip her 1 o’clock shot of Methadone. When 1 o’clock rolled around, the nurse came over with the shot and was about to give it to Josie. Sorrel told the nurse that the doctor said Josie did not need the 1 o’clock dose. The nurse insisted that the orders have been changed. Sorrel knew that something was wrong as she watched the nurse give the shot to Josie, but she kept quiet, keeping her faith in the fact that she was at one of the best hospitals in the country.
After Josie’s nap, she would not wake up. Doctors and nurses came running in and made Sorrel leave the room and watch all of the chaos from the window. They moved Sorrel from room to room, not giving her any information. Eventually, they sat her down in an office, and told her that her precious 18 month old daughter Josie was going to die. Sorrel insisted that was impossible, that a miracle would occur, that she would do all in her power to help the nurses and doctors and that Josie will go home to her family as planned. The doctors told her that a team of neurologists were on the case and they confirmed that Josie was brain dead and her organs were starting to shut down. It would only be a matter of days.
Sorrel went into Josie’s room to spend time with her. She had a bunch of tubes in her body to the point where she looked like a robot. Looking at Josie, Sorrel was thinking about how her other children and her husband were home blowing up balloons, preparing for Josie’s return home. Within 24 hours, the King family went from planning a welcome home celebration to planning a funeral.
Sorrel kKing was furious at the hospital. She was regretful because she witnessed this happening and could have prevented it. The whole event was simply a miscommunication error. So many thoughts went through her head. What if the nurses who had been concerned and worried about Josie had actually gone up the chain of command and tried harder to be heard? What if the doctors tried harder to listen? What if someone took their eyes off the computer and look at the patient in the bed? What if someone took the time to listen to the mother? If even one of these happened, Sorrel believed that Josie would be alive today.
Over 75% of all sentinel events are due to a breakdown in communication. Why is it so hard for people in the healthcare industry to communicate? It is our generation’s job to change the culture for everyone else because we are the upcoming health care workers.
The head of the hospital went to the King’s house to apologize to Josie’s parents. He said that he would get to the bottom of this and fix the problem. They thanked him but told him he would be hearing from their lawyers. Mr. and Mrs. King wanted to take Hopkins down and destroy them. The hospital offered the parents money, but they thought that it was despicable for them to offer money for a dead child, let alone for to accept it. If her parents accepted the money then they would be accepting what the hospital has done, allowing them to get away with what has occurred.
Even though Sorrel thought it was awful to take the money, she decided to take the money and do something important for Josie. They thought about giving the money to the Ronald McDonald foundation and other children’s cancer organizations.
The head of the hospital wanted Sorrel to talk to everyone at the hospital about the tragedy because 98,000 people die every year due to medical errors but no one really knows about it because it is not talked about. This is the 4th leading cause of death in the country. The head of the hospital thought that by using a real life story, she would be able to get into the hearts and minds of healthcare workers. Sorrel began getting requests for her videos and presentations everywhere. She asked for donations for each video or presentation. This was the start of the Josie King foundation.
I found this event extremely useful. Having Sorrel King come to speak to a bunch of students looking to become healthcare professionals was perfect. It reached the right audience. This presentation has definitely opened my eyes and when I am out working in the healthcare field, I will be aware and keep this story in the back of my brain so I can avoid anything similar from happening. The Josie King story was my favorite event so far at Stockton and I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to attend.