Afghan boy dies after return from U.S (post-heart surgery)

[rainbow4321]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHAN_US_SURGERY_BOY?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=INTERNATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

An Afghan toddler taken to the United States for surgery to fix a life-threatening heart ailment died Friday, two days after returning home to a muddy refugee camp from the trip arranged with the help of U.S. soldiers.

Army medical officers said 16-month-old Qudratullah Wardak's repaired heart had likely given out as his father tried to comfort him in the family's drafty tent near an American base outside the Afghan capital. The cause of death could not be determined because the Afghan tradition of burying the dead quickly made an autopsy impossible.

On Wednesday, U.S. troops had escorted the boy and his father home to a joyous welcome at the camp next to an Afghan military barracks. More than 100 adults and children turned out to greet them in a heavy downpour, applauding wildly when the boy's father, Hakim Gul, emerged from a pickup truck clutching his son, who looked plump and healthy after the two-day journey home


Another uncle, Abdul Malik, said the boy seemed well on Thursday evening after receiving a dose of medicine prescribed by the doctors in Indianapolis. But the boy developed problems at about 3 a.m., and his parents woke the rest of the family in a panic. "His father and mother were putting their hands over his heart and said it was beating very fast," Malik told an Associated Press reporter at the family's tent. "They gave him his medicine for pain, and he seemed to calm down. His father felt for his heart again, then he asked me to try, but the heartbeat was gone. Everybody was crying."

[blogbear]

1. I'm so sorry about that sweet little baby..That was such awful news!

[Swede]

2. Aw that's too bad. Poor little guy.

He looked so healthy on TV just the other day.

[patrice]

3. God be with him.

This is so sad.

The poor soldiers . . . . probably bought what care they could afford, but couldn't afford enough to keep him here until he could have survived.

They should have sent him to India for the operation.

[Metatron]

4. Actually, the Riley Hospital for Children is well respected for its care

The expenses were covered through the Rotary's Gift of Life program and the Indiana National Guard. For more information see http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050415/NEWS01/50415005.

[patrice]

6. I ws trying to say, maybe it would have been different if he could

have stayed longer. Not castin aspersions on the hospital, but the cost of health care.

[Metatron]

7. Yes, healthcare costs are outrageous.

There is another Afghan child at Camp Phoenix that needs surgery "to repair the damage of horrible burns from a propane tank explosion eight months ago." The National Guard is collecting on his behalf, too, in hopes to send him to another hospital in Indiana. (From the same article I linked to in my previous post)

[rainbow4321]

8. I don't think changing where he had it done would have helped..

Maybe it would have saved them some $$ that could have gone towards them staying in a better place afterwards.

Cardiac patient put back into a muddy field in a breezy tent out in the wilderness of a third world country.
NOT that the people involved in the whole case had much of a choice, I assume...but you have to wonder if the post-procedure living environment were better, maybe he could have survived?? What was described in the article would be harsh living for the healthiest of people, never mind a cardiac toddler/patient.

[kiraboo]

5. I hate to be clinical,

but this sounds like a fair metaphor for american intervention in afghanistan and iraq.

[Fridays Child]

9. I am uncomfortable with this story.

I think I'll have trouble expressing this, so try to bear with me.

What was Qudratullah's journey to the US for surgery about? That poor sweet child deserved to live, obviously, and my heart goes out to his parents. I also acknowledge the genuine caring of those who sponsored him.

But I have to wonder why we did this thing for one child. Was it so that we can feel good about what we're doing in his country? If that's true, even in a small way, what should we learn from his death? I was reading a thread the other day wherein a very astute DUer observed that such projects which make us feel good can be, in a way, acts of selfishness.

I sincerely don't mean to diminish the kindness of those who tried to help him. I'm prone to getting involved in those sorts of efforts, too. But maybe, in little Qudratullah's death, we're supposed to learn that, one mended heart is not enough for us to breathe a sigh of self-satisfaction. Maybe it was little Qudratullah's job to make sure that it will not be that easy for us.

I'm just sad for all of the Qudratullahs, you know?

[patrice]

10. I agree.

I know the soldiers were responding to the little boy who needed help. God bless them.

However, there are those who use this sort of thing. It's a little like saying, "Yes, war is horrible, but see how deeply we feel about (whatever)." I'm afraid in some soap-opera mentalities, the pain we cause is justified by the bathos.

[Corey_Baker08]

11. This is really Sad

He was just here in Indiana at Riley Hospital about 1/2 hour away from me and everyone was so happy he was doing better and the family was trying to seek permanent residency in Indiana.

Everyone had high expectations for him and now we find out hes dead with no reason given. Its ridiculous that we send a child into war torn afghanastan let alone an unstable infant.

[Bzzzz]

12. I've actually had enough...

of all the media coverage. Flame me at will. I feel bad for the family, it's sad, but there's other news out there.