An 11-year-old girl who had been treated for leukemia and later went into remission was discharged from hospital care, but tragically died just 36 hours later.
Her case later led to a $20.5 million settlement awarded to her family after a jury found that prescribed medications played a role in her death.
The girl, Ava Wilson, had previously been diagnosed with B-cell lymphoblastic leukemia. According to reports, she had shown signs of recovery and had no detectable cancer in her blood at the time she was considered in remission.
However, shortly after being discharged from a medical facility in Illinois in 2020, her condition worsened. She had been experiencing significant pain,
difficulty walking, and other symptoms during her stay, including abnormal test results such as low blood counts and low blood pressure.
Despite these concerns, she was sent home with pain medications including morphine and gabapentin, with doses higher than what she had previously been prescribed.
Her medical records later indicated that a combination of these drugs, along with another medication, contributed to acute toxicity that caused her death in her sleep.
The family later filed a lawsuit against the hospital system, claiming that proper monitoring and care were not provided before her discharge. Their attorneys argued that she should have been kept under medical supervision due to her unstable condition.
Hospital representatives expressed condolences to the family and stated they were unable to comment on specific details due to patient privacy policies.
The case has since drawn attention to the risks associated with strong pain medications and the importance of careful monitoring after hospital discharge, especially in vulnerable patients.