McMaster Children’s Hospital is set to resume tonsil and adenoid surgeries this month after procedures were temporarily paused following the death of two children.
Back on June 4, Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) ceased all scheduled tonsil and adenoid surgeries for pediatric patients after two children died after having those surgeries. The first child died in May, while the other passed nine days later in June.
HHS says the incidents prompted an external review of independent experts to look into the hospital’s pediatric ear, nose and throat surgical service for tonsil and adenoid surgeries.
“The review is now complete and did not identify any specific actions, absence of actions, quality of care concerns, or systems issues that directly or indirectly contributed to the two deaths,” HHS said in a statement on Monday.
In addition to the review, HHS says it also conducted an internal quality of care reviews to understand lessons learned from these cases. The hospital claims it will inform changes to its policies and procedures.
“HHS takes these incidents and experiences very seriously and is confident that these changes will help to ensure that we are delivering the best care and experience for patients and their families,” the organization said.
According to its website, McMaster Children’s Hospital performed 584 pediatric tonsil and/or tonsillectomy with adenoid surgeries in total last year. Among those patients, approximately 5.8 per cent returned to the emergency department.
The hospital is currently in the process of contacting patients and families to schedule their surgeries. It will resume all pediatric tonsil and adenoid surgeries as of Oct. 7.
