9th Baby Dies at Florida Hospital With High Infant Mortality Rate

Davi Ricardo Brandao was diagnosed with "truncus arteriosus," a heart defect that required him to undergo surgery. The procedure for his severe heart condition was done in March this year at St. Mary's Hospital in Florida and it was followed up with a second surgery a few weeks later. Last June 2, Tuesday, however, the baby died.    

According to CNN, Davi's case is not the first in St. Mary's. He is the ninth infant to die after a surgery at the hospital since 2011. As his parents mourn for the loss of their baby, who was barely 2 months old, CNN looked into the hospital's records and was surprised by what they have discovered so far.

In a separate report, also from CNN, it was discovered that "high surgical mortality rate" is prevalent among babies in many Florida hospitals. Of the 109 sites that were reviewed, the death rate fell between 1.4 percent to 12.1 percent. The number is higher than the actual number of children saved or cured, the report said. The other glaring fact that the media outlet discovered is that the rate of mortality is often kept confidential by the hospitals, which is why it is believed that many parents are misguided about the chances of successful surgeries in these hospitals.

In baby Davi's situation, Davide Carbone, the CEO of St. Mary's said that their surgery program for such cases was "consistent with national average," according to New York City News. Carbone based his statement from the last review of the hospital's operation in June 2014. He also defends that, "the patients we serve are afflicted with severe life-threatening conditions, and it is impossible to eliminate the risk of mortality."

The hospital launched their infant heart surgery program in 2011, but since then its mortality rate just keeps increasing, at least three times higher than average. One expert who reviewed St. Mary's program, however, noted that for this type of complex operation, St. Mary's only does few procedures that its doctors don't get to become good at it. Other hospitals across the United States perform infant heart surgeries by the hundreds. Meanwhile, the Florida Health Department said that it will "continues to closely monitor St. Mary's to ensure that they are following the law," according to CNN.

On Facebook, Davi's mother, Paulitia Gomes, created a private post dedicated to her son. Under his photo, Gomes captioned it "luto," the Portuguese word for mourning.