Coroner’s jury finds nurse negligent in baby’s death
A Fayette County coroner’s jury has recommended that police investigating the death of a 7-month-old baby present the findings of the case to the district attorney for review after they determined a home care nurse was negligent in her care of the infant.
A panel of three men and three women made the recommendation after nearly 10 hours of testimony and discussion regarding the death of Derek V. Miskanin Jr.
The child was pronounced dead at 1:25 a.m. Dec. 4, 2010, at Uniontown Hospital after he was found by a home care nurse and his parents not breathing at the couple’s home on Bute Road in North Union Township.
Coroner Dr. Phillip E. Reilly said that the tentative cause of death was determined to be failure to maintain airway control and the tentative manner of death was ruled accidental, but added that an inquest into the child’s death was requested.
In their recommendations, the jury determined that the manner of death was an accident but noted that it was avoidable.
Miskanin, who was a special care case after being born more than three months premature, was assisted in breathing by a tracheotomy and also had other special care needs after spending about four months hospitalized following his birth.
His father, Derek Miskanin Sr., told jurors Wednesday that he had turned over care of his son to nurse Jackie Yeagley of Pediatric Services of America (PSA) of Pittsburgh shortly after 11 p.m. Dec. 3 and retired to his bedroom. He was alerted by Yeagley about an hour later that there was a problem with the child.
He testified that when he arrived in his son’s room the 7-month-old was blue and Yeagley was improperly performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation and using a breathing bag on his son but noted that the oxygen was not hooked up to the bag.
“He was just lying there, more blue than I had ever seen,” Derek Miskanin Sr. testified.
He testified that during his training to care for the child the first step for a respiratory emergency is replacing the tracheotomy tube and port.
“I asked if she had changed the trach, and she said yes,” Miskanin testified, adding that he and his wife immediately took over life-saving efforts from Yeagley who continued to monitor the child with a stethoscope.
Yeagley testified that she never changed the tracheotomy and also testified that Miskanin never asked her about it.
She told jurors that she was watching the baby as was customary and noticed that he had gotten pale around 12:30 a.m. and saw that his heart rate and oxygen levels were dropping.
Yeagley testified she then began trying to revive the infant and began to yell for help.
She testified that prior to noticing the baby was pale, she noticed nothing out of the ordinary and testified that the alarms on the infant’s monitors did not sound other than when she unhooked the ventilator around 11:30 p.m. Dec 3.
However, Trooper Kiprian Yarosh said he obtained a mechanical report for the ventilator that showed the machine sounded audible alarms for a multitude of problems as many as six times between midnight and 12:30 a.m. and that in each case someone, presumably Yeagley, reset the machine and stopped the alarms from sounding.
Yeagley denied working with the machine during that time.
In addition to Derek Miskanin Sr., testimony was presented by his wife, Montana, the child’s grandmother, Vickie Knox, and the child’s great-grandparents.
Knox testified that during the commotion of trying life-saving efforts with Derek Miskanin Jr., Yeagley was of little help and at one point tried to give her stethoscope to Knox so she could check the child instead of Yeagley.
Yeagley denied that claim.
Children’s Hospital home care coordinator Chuck Boig explained to jurors what needed to be done in the crisis situation at the home and conflicting testimony from the Miskanin family and Yeagley painted a clouded picture of the care the baby actually received Dec. 4.
Sandra Moreau, special equipment representative for Lincare, who provided the machines being used in the Miskanin home, testified that the machines were tested following the child’s death and found to be in proper working order.
Uniontown Firemen’s Ambulance paramedic B.J. Plavi and emergency medical technician Shawnee Smith testified that when they arrived at the residence, the baby was very blue and multiple people at the home were trying to resuscitate the infant.
Plavi testified that they took the baby from the home and drove him to Uniontown Hospital where doctors continued efforts to revive the child to no avail.
Fayette County District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. said Thursday that he will meet with Yarosh in the coming weeks to review the case and determine if charges are warranted.