TORONTO - The parents of a seriously ill child say they weren't consulted by doctors at Toronto's Hospital For Sick Children before their daughter was taken off a respirator.
Jason Wallace and Crystal Vitelli told a news conference today that their daughter Kaylee was suffering and struggling to breathe after being left off the apparatus for 27 hours last week.
She's now breathing on her own and could be released from hospital within a few days, the father said.
But he says he feels the couple is being shut out of making decisions on their daughter's care at the hospital, which is the only one equipped to deal with such cases in the area.
Kaylee, who turned one in February, suffers from a malformation of the brain and brain stem accompanied by frequently interrupted breathing.
The child captured national attention last April when her parents --fearing their first-born would soon die of a rare genetic condition -- offered her heart for transplant.
Against all odds, Kaylee rallied and became well enough to go home a few weeks later.
"She is a fighter," Wallace said Monday.
Kaylee was put on a respirator after experiencing severe seizures last Tuesday but was reportedly taken off the next day.
Wallace told the news conference Monday that the parents planned to sue the hospital but a spokesman for the family later requested those statements be disregarded.
Matet Nebres, a spokeswoman for the Hospital for Sick Children, said Monday: "The family has not given us consent to release information about Kaylee."
