Brain Injury Support Group

My 18 year old had an automobile accident only minutes from a hospital; she was transport by ambulance to that hospital. Upon arriving at the hospital I was confronted by a doctor in charge of the emergency room, another doctor in charge of ICU, and a neurologist. They inform me that her brain had swollen up to take over the complete interior of the skull and they did not know the out come. When ask by them if I want to transport her to another hospital (at close to midnight that night), I was advise by them to leave her there till morning to stabilize her. I spent the night at the hospital, and the next morning I was told that the swelling had come down a little, but the doctor that advise me to leave her there then felt that she should be moved to a larger hospital. Which we did, upon arriving at the larger hospital she was given an external shunt on the top/side of her skull to release fluids, which the nurses believe should have been done the night of the accident. My questions is two fold (1) should this been done the night of the accident ???? (the hospital that had her the first night was, I believe, able to do that) (2) is their a possibility that additional harm could have come to her due to the fact this action was not taken??? Thank you for taking the time to answer this question........
Posted on 09/07/09, 06:09 pm