Brave little Hollie died after heart op complications
TOT LOST BATTLE DAYS AFTER SURGERY
A BRAVE three-year-old girl born with a rare heart defect died following an operation intended to give her a long and healthy life, an inquest heard.
Hollie Garrity, lovingly called ‘Holliebops,’ underwent her first operation at the age of just five days.
The Wallsend youngster was diagnosed during pregnancy with congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (CCTGA) - a condition where the heart twists and ventricles are reversed.
Medics decided the best option for Hollie was to undergo surgery at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle in an attempt to avoid “later complications in life”. But tragically the three-year-old died less than a week after the operation following a”catastrophic” bleed on her brain on March 29 last year.
The inquest at Newcastle Coroner’s Court on Wednesday heard Hollie’s first operation shortly after birth was to address an aorta complication.
A further operation was carried out at a later date to “train” her heart in preparation for a double switch operation - a procedure combining two surgeries to reroute the aorta and pulmonary artery to the correct ventricles.
The court heard up to eight children out of every 100,000 are born with (CCTGA).
Neil Seller, a paediatric cardiologist at the Freeman Hospital, said: “Hollie’s heart under review appeared to have no other significant abnormalities.
“My long-term vision for Hollie was to consider her for a double switch operation once she had grown and thrived for a bit.
“The hope was it should be a better option for those patients for longevity and quality of life.
“In other words, doing the double switch operation early is designed to avoid later complications in life.”
Hollie’s family met with medical experts in November 2017 to discuss whether the procedure was the best option.
The surgery was to be Dr Fabrizio De Rita’s operation of that nature, and the family initially raised concerns and suggested transferring their daughter to a more experienced surgeon in Birmingham.
But after assurances Dr De Rita would be assisted Dr Asif Hasan - an experienced surgeon who had carried out at least 20 double switch operations - the family gave their consent.
Hollie’s surgery was carried out on May 23, and complications arose after seven hours in theatre.
Dr De Rita said: “The first time I can recall Hollie had significant problems is when I approached for the chest closure.
“I realised the heart had gone into a significant life-threatening arrhythmia.”
Hollie’s family faced an agonising 13-hour wait for news before learning their daughter’s surgery had encountered complications.
Surgeons stabilised Hollie by placing her on a support machine, and decided to undo their actions and carry out the procedure for a second time in an attempt to identify the root cause of the irregular heartbeat.
The court heard the cause for the arrhythmia was never found, but Hollie’s condition began to steadily improve in the days following.
Dr De Rita added: “Hollie started to show some native rejection [of ECMO support]. “We were happy and starting thinking about potentially weaning her off the machine.”
Medics were forced to intervene when blood clots were discovered in the right side of the three-year-old’s heart on March 28.
The next morning, a CT scan confirmed Hollie had suffered a “severe” bleed on her brain and the youngster passed away just before 9pm.
Dr Hasan said: “It came as a huge shock that something had gone wrong, in fact unbelievable. “Something went wrong but I don’t think there was any failure on the technical side.
“I feel responsible for what had happened to her.”
The post-mortem was carried out on April 3, and found Hollie had died as a result of the
Hollie Garrity with her mother Kirsty Stubbs. Right: Newcastle’s Freeman Hospital