Background: Piedmont Eastside Medical Center (Google Maps). Inset: Maya Getahun (court filing).
A 2-year-old girl tragically passed away at a hospital in Georgia after suffering ant bites, while her parents could only watch, as per a lawsuit filed by the family.
The lawsuit, filed on April 4th in Gwinnett County, involves Bethelhem Getu Hundie and Getahun Birhanu, who are the parents of Maya Getahun. They claim that the local emergency room was not equipped to properly intubate their daughter during her severe allergic reaction.
Maya’s parents rushed her to the emergency department at Piedmont Eastside Medical Center in Snellville, Georgia, on October 7, 2024, after she was bitten by ants and developed an allergic reaction. They described their child as “wheezing” and struggling to breathe. Despite the medical staff understanding the allergic reaction, they allegedly delayed giving Maya epinephrine for more than 20 minutes.
The complaint noted that “Maya had a blood oxygen saturation of 97%” when the decision to intubate was made.
The parents allege that the doctor who tried to intubate Maya found that the ER did not have the right size equipment necessary for a young child — and that this realization came too late.
“As the [rapid sequence intubation] drugs paralyzed Maya, Dr. Salazar discovered that the Hospital lacked the equipment needed to complete the pediatric intubation,” said the complaint.
As a result, the complaint said, “Maya’s parents looked on helplessly as their daughter slowly died from lack of oxygen.”
The plaintiffs argue that stocking a hospital with appropriate equipment, “particularly for a pediatric intubation,” is part of any emergency department’s ordinary duty of care.
Maya’s parents bring claims for negligence, wrongful death, and punitive damages in an unspecified amount over $10,000 against the hospital and the doctor.
Attorney Lloyd Bell, who represents the family, said in a statement to Law&Crime that the medical professionals at the hospital “failed them at every turn.”
“This lawsuit is about holding the hospital accountable and getting justice for Maya and her family,” Bell said. “By shining a light on these horrible events, the family hopes Piedmont will change their policies and procedures to ensure this doesn’t happen to another child.”
You can read the full complaint here.
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