Surgeries paused after two kids dead

Review into McMaster hospital tonsil, adenoid operations launched

- JOANNA FRKETICH

Two kids have died following tonsil and or adenoid surgery at McMaster Children’s Hospital.

The hospital halted the procedure starting Tuesday — except for emergencies — while an external independent review is done of the program and the care it provides.

“While there is no apparent connection between these two cases, out of an abundance of caution, we have paused scheduled tonsil and adenoid surgical procedures for patients under the age of 18,” stated an internal staff memo sent Tuesday and obtained by The Spectator. “We are also undertaking a comprehensive review of our program and care path for tonsil and adenoid surgeries. The review will be conducted by independent, external subject matter experts.”

One of the children died in May and the other in June, Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) said in a statement provided to The Spectator Wednesday.

Both children were discharged from the hospital after their surgeries. One child died the day after having the procedure and the second child died nine days after surgery.

“We are working quickly to identify someone to support the review and are optimistic that we’ll be able to proceed shortly,” HHS said in the statement.

“We cannot speculate on any changes as the review has not yet taken place but want to assure our community that we will implement any additional safety measures that may be required.”

Death following a tonsillectomy is rare. An American study found 36 deaths out of 504,262 procedures in five states from 2005 to 2017. It translates to a rate of seven per 100,000 operations overall, concluded the study published in 2022 in the medical journal JAMA.

Kids with complex chronic conditions have a higher risk, with a postoperative death rate of 117 per 100,000, found the research.

They made up 44 per cent of the deaths in the study.