US Hospital Pays $15 Million To Parents Of Baby Who Died During Sleep Study

Boston Children's Hospital has paid $15 Million to a Massachusetts couple after their 6-months baby with dwarfism died during a sleep study.

People reported that Becky and Ryan Kekula - from Plymouth, Massachusetts bought their son Jackson to Boston Children's Hospital for a car seat test and a sleep study on February 18, 2022.

During a routine sleep study, the baby died after being left without enough oxygen for more than 30 minutes.

The parents told WCVB5 that the baby's oxygen levels and heart rate dropped to dangerously low levels and after half an hour, the baby boy was in cardiac arrest.

The hospital staff also performed CPR on Jackson. He was put on life support, but after 12 days the parents made the agonizing decision to take him off care.

"We went from February 18th just doing a routine study - to March 2nd to saying goodbye [and] March 3rd calling the funeral home," grieving mom Becky Kekula told WBZ-TV.

The Massachusetts Department of Public Health later investigated Jackson's case and found that the hospital staff made a series of errors that left him without oxygen for more than 20 minutes, People reported.

The parents were awarded a $15 million settlement from the Boston Children's Hospital due to the tragedy.

After the case, Boston Children's Hospital released a statement to WCVB5.

"We express our deepest condolences and apologize to the family for losing their son," the hospital said. "Following this incident, we immediately stopped all sleep studies and began a thorough review of what occurred. We examined our policies, staff training, competencies and all systems that support sleep lab studies, including scheduling, ordering, triaging and performing the actual study."

"We identified and implemented several improvements for how we conduct sleep studies, including a revision of responsibilities of team members; hands-on skills training and education for sleep lab staff; enhanced sleep technologist orientation and ongoing training; modification of the ordering and triage process that assesses potential risks to patients; and a review of the environment in which testing is conducted. After this review and implementation of these improvements, sleep studies were reinstated in a phased manner to ensure patient safety."

"We continue to closely monitor the care delivery of sleep studies to ensure the highest levels of quality and safety for our patients and their families," the statement ended. "We maintain our system-wide commitment to prioritizing and improving quality and safety as the foundation of all the care provided at Boston Children's Hospital."