Girl, 10, went to hospital for leg pain, mother says

A Thornhill mother is demanding an explanation for why her 10-year-old daughter died after going to Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children for help with pain from a broken leg. 

Lisa Shore died suddenly at the hospital Oct. 22, just hours after being admitted for treatment of recurring pain she suffered after breaking her leg last February. 

Toronto coroner Dr. Morton Reingold said the answers to why Lisa died won't be available until the completion of toxicology tests, showing the levels of pain medication in her blood and tissue. 

But after waiting five months for the test results, Lisa's mother said she has had enough. 

Hoping the legal system can deliver what the medical system hasn't, Sharon Shore is calling for a coroner's inquest into her daughter's death. 

``I want to know exactly what happened from the moment she arrived at the hospital to the end,'' she said. 

Reingold told The Star a four- to six-month wait for results isn't unusual. In Lisa's case, he added, the results will be discussed with a coroner's pediatric review committee before a decision is made about an inquest. 

Shore, who slept in a bed next to her daughter the night she died, kept a detailed diary of Lisa's symptoms and each visit they made to a doctor or hospital. 

According to her notes, Shore gave Lisa two of her three usual pain medications while they waited to be seen at the hospital on the evening of Oct. 21. 

Shore's notes also say she checked with an anesthesiologist before giving Lisa a third drug, amitriptyline, in case its sedative effect conflicted with any medication given by the hospital. 

Shore now wonders whether her daughter had an adverse drug reaction and if it went undetected because Lisa was not connected to a machine to monitor her vital signs. 

In addition to the three pain drugs, Lisa was hooked up to an intravenous line and morphine pump that allowed her to control the dosage of the pain medication. 

Shore said she does not think Lisa had a morphine overdose. She last activated the pump around 1 a.m. on Oct. 22 and she died sometime after Shore fell asleep, about 2:15 a.m. 

Hospital spokesperson Cyndy De Giusti couldn't comment on hospital monitoring procedures or the possibility of an adverse drug reaction, adding the investigation is in the coroner's hands. 

``For us, (Lisa's death) is completely unexplained and unexpected,'' she said. ``I know it's difficult for the family. We understand their frustration. We want to find out what happened.'' 

Shore said she was invited to meet with Reingold and hospital officials to discuss the case, but only if she didn't bring a lawyer. She refused. 

After breaking her leg last Feb. 11, Lisa had a full plaster cast put on at North York General Hospital. Two days later, her toes turned purple and intense leg pain developed. Lisa then received a fiberglass cast at the Hospital for Sick Children. 

Shore said her daughter continued to scream in pain for the next several months, but Toronto doctors were at a loss to explain it. 

At one point, they suggested Lisa and her family come in for counselling. 

The family then took Lisa to Boston's Children's Hospital, where she was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy, a rare condition marked by chronic, burning pain that often starts with a minor injury such as a fracture or sprained ankle.