Leevi Greenawalt and his mother, Tina, home after the 12-year-old received wrong medication at local hospital.
/ FOX21: Adam Jukkola
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. -- It is a phone call no parent wants to receive.
"They said they gave Leevi, my stepson, the wrong medicine," Jason Ayotte of Colorado Springs said. "They gave him somebody else's medicine."
Four days after checking into Cedar Springs Hospital, the parents of 12-year-old Leevi Greenawalt said their son was not only given his prescribed medication, but three additional drugs that were meant for another patient. Tina Greenawalt, Leevi's mother, and Ayotte received a call from a nurse hours after Leevi had taken the medicine. Both were frantic.
"The parent shock went in," Ayotte said. "Is he okay? Is he going to over dose? Is he safe?"
Leevi's parents were never given a clear answer as to why the medicine mix-up happened. That left them with little choice.
"She [the nurse] kept saying sorry, sorry, sorry. We just wanted him immediately out," Ayotte said.
Out of fear for the safety of their child, Ayotte and Greenawalt decided to pull Leevi out of Cedar Springs Sunday afternoon and took him home. Since he was discharged against medical advice, Leevi's parents said the hospital withheld their son's prescriptions."
"Why are they punishing him for their mistake?" Greenawalt asked.
After talking to a local pharmacist about the drugs Leevi had consumed, the family learned the side effects would not be life-threatening.
"I'm just mad because Cedar Springs messed up my medicine and gave me the wrong medicine," Leevi said.
The family plans to pursue legal action against the hospital.
"How many more kids has she done this to?" Ayotte asked. "This same nurse, how many kids are in danger at Cedar Springs when they're supposed to be getting help with their problems? After what they did to Leevi, I don't think I will ever put my trust back in Cedar Springs."
Neither will Leevi.
"Don't send your kid to Cedar Springs," Leevi said. "Send them somewhere else."
After several attempts to contact Cedar Springs Hospital, administration chose not to discuss the issue, but released this statement:
"The management and staff of Cedar Springs Hospital are committed to providing the best possible treatment to its patients and takes their safety and well-being very seriously. Due to strict patient confidentiality and privacy laws Cedar Springs Hospital is precluded from discussing the specific details of any individual patient case."
Reported by: Kelly Werthmann
TV Station Profiles & Public Inspection Files forKXRM