Today would be my sister's birthday.
If only.



64



(LILLIAN HOOS)

before, with her vital signs stable, her heart rate
regular, and her respirations satisfactory, she suffered a
sudden attack of extreme bradycardia, respiratory dis-
tress, and cardiac arrest on July 31 at 2:40 a.m., from
which she could not be resuscitated. Death was pronounced
at 3:22 a.m.

Autopsy

At autopsy the clinical diagnoses were confirmed and
it was noted that the shunt repair was intact and func-
tioning. Both lungs were seen to be collapsed. No
specific cause of death was given although the many prob-
lems known to exist were noted. "Hypoplastic right heart
syndrome" was listed as the heading of the Final Autopsy
Report.

Toxicology

There was a digoxin reading of 1.7 ng/ml on July 29,
but no post-mortem readings on blood or tissue.

The Experts

The experts agreed that the onset of her terminal
events was sudden and her death was unexpected as to time,
but it certainly could be explained by her condition.
Equally it could have been caused by digoxin toxicity.
Dr. Rowe believed the death to be the result of the
child's clinical condition, specifically, her severe
heart malformations in addition to her respiratory diffi-
culties. Dr. Nadas, in his report to Atlanta, rated this
baby's death unexpected but consistent with both her
clinical condition and digoxin toxicity. Dr. Fay said
there was only a low level of suspicion, while Dr.
Hastreiter thought there was a fair probability of digoxin
toxicity.