Ontario children’s hospital halts tonsil, adenoid surgeries after 2 patient deaths

A children’s hospital in Hamilton says it has paused tonsil and adenoid surgical procedures after two patient deaths in the last month.

McMaster Children’s Hospital (MCH) says it is going through a comprehensive review of the department’s program “out of an abundance of caution” after reporting that a pair of patients died following discharge from tonsil and adenoid-related surgeries.

“One child passed away the day after their surgery, and the second child passed away nine days after their initial surgery,” Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) spokesperson Wendy Stewart said.

“We want to express our deepest condolences to these families.”

Stewart says the first death was in May and the other in early June.

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MCH can’t confirm any “apparent connection” between the two cases but as of Tuesday paused scheduled tonsil and adenoid surgical procedures for patients under the age of 18 “until a comprehensive review of the program can be completed.”

The outlet is in the process of informing patients and families that scheduled care or surgeries will be affected, according to Stewart.

Ontario Minister of Health Sylvia Jones said parents should be able to hear the results of the review “directly from the hospitals” in Hamilton.

“It just happened,” she told Global News. “I know that McMaster paused any further surgeries and I leave it to McMaster to comment on anything more specific.”

Ontario Liberal MPP Adil Shamji, who is also a doctor and the party’s health critic, said he felt the hospital was best placed to lead the work.

“I think it’s an important step to allow the hospital to conduct its own investigation first,” he said Wednesday.

“And then I think there’s absolutely a role for the Minister of Health — from a quality assurance perspective … I think it is essential that the Ministry of Health needs to be looking into that and expecting a clear report.”

He pointed out that tonsillitis surgeries are generally low-risk and “routine” for hospitals to perform.

NDP Leader Marit Stiles said she felt the province should be leading a probe.

“Absolutely, the government should be looking into that,” she said.

“That’s deeply concerning. Having said that, I think there are many recommendations that have been made to the government to improve conditions in our hospitals right now that they could be acting on before we actually need to have an investigation.”

Jones stressed she wanted to give the families of the two children time.

“I think it’s important that we give the parents time to learn directly from the hospitals what has happened,” she said.

Emergent surgeries will continue and its Ear, Nose, Throat (ENT) Clinic is still operating.

“We are working quickly to identify independent, external subject matter experts to support the review and are optimistic that we’ll be able to proceed shortly,” Stewart said.

“We cannot speculate on any changes as the review has not yet taken place but want to assure our community that we will implement any additional safety measures that may be required.”

A Hamilton police spokesperson has confirmed both deaths have been deemed “non-criminal” and that matter has been turned over to Ontario’s coroner.

The province’s coroner says it is proceeding with an investigation, but would not provide details on the investigation or cause of the two deaths.

Over the past year, MCH says it has performed 47 pediatric tonsil-only surgeries and 537 pediatric tonsil and adenoid-related procedures.

Only about 11 per cent of children with tonsil-only surgeries and five per cent treated for tonsils and adenoids returned to the hospital’s emergency department with issues related to bleeding, the hospital says.