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ramblar

Forum Veteran
December 4, 2012 8:31 AM

Search continues for Emily, Arizona girl with leukemia taken by mother from hospital



AP914764876546_244x183.jpg

Dec. 3, 2012 surveillance footage of a woman seen with her 11-year-old daughter, a leukemia patient who had her arm amputated and a heart catheter inserted due to an infection
/ AP Photo/Phoenix Police Department
(CBS/AP) PHOENIX - Authorities are continuing to search for an 11-year-old girl with leukemia who could die in a matter of days if she isn't brought back to a hospital after her mother removed her last week with a catheter still inserted in the girl's heart.


The girl is only identified as Emily, who had been receiving chemotherapy at Phoenix Children's Hospital for about a month, Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Martos said Monday.
An infection forced doctors to amputate her right arm and insert a catheter in her heart. She left before her scheduled release when her mother removed her IV, changed her clothes and walked her out of the facility Wednesday night.
Police said the girl could contract a deadly infection if the catheter is left in too long.
"If she contracts an infection, it really could just be a matter of days that could result in the young girl's death," Martos said. "It's pretty serious."
Authorities refrained from releasing the parents' names due to health privacy laws, but police said Monday that U.S. Border Patrol stopped the girl's father, 46-year-old Luis Bracamontes, as he crossed into Arizona from Mexico over the weekend.
Bracamontes provided no clues to the girl's whereabouts and denied having any involvement in removing her from the hospital, Martos said. Police released his name, along with that of the girl's mother, 35-year-old Norma Bracamontes, in hopes it will help locate the child.
Neither parent is charged with a crime yet, but authorities want the child brought back to the hospital before it's too late, Martos said. He said the family lives a "nomadic" life without a permanent residence, but they have relatives in Arizona, California and Mexico, none of whom have been able to provide police with information about their whereabouts.
Martos said the girl's father is a Mexican citizen with a U.S. resident alien identification card. The child and her mother are U.S. citizens.
Authorities don't know why the child's parents took her from the hospital, but speculate they might have been concerned with paying the bill.
Surveillance footage shows the mother pushing an IV stand through a hospital hallway. The girl, with her right arm removed above the elbow and wrapped in a bandage, is seen walking beside her.
"We just don't know what their intent was," Martos said. "But this could become extremely serious if she contracts an infection ... Our primary concern is she get the proper medical care so we can prevent obviously the worst case scenario here."
 

no1uno

Forum Veteran
I just saw this on the news, if mom was smart she would bring her back to the hospital, or take the chance of a more serious charge. I hope the girl is going to be ok. :(
 

NightMare

My gift to you, a Nightmare of terror
Stupid fucking mother.
Just what I say too. I doubt that girl is going to live much longer if they don't have that shunt taken out. Then the "loving mother" (gag) can be jailed for murder. The chile was due to be released the next morning so I can't understand why she would remove her from the hospital. Only a couple of hours and she would have been let go. Just don't understand this stupid ass mother. I should look around the net and see if she has been found or not.
 

Just Flesh

Carry a knife? Yes, they never run out of ammo.
How could a mother escort her child to certain death, I will forever be puzzled by this. =(
 

ramblar

Forum Veteran
UPDATE:


AP914764876546_244x183.jpg

Dec. 3, 2012 surveillance footage of a woman seen with her 11-year-old daughter, a leukemia patient who had her arm amputated and a heart catheter inserted due to an infection
/ AP Photo/Phoenix Police Department
(CBS/AP) PHOENIX - Authorities are continuing to search for an 11-year-old girl with leukemia who could die in a matter of days if she isn't brought back to a hospital after her mother removed her last week with a catheter still inserted in the girl's heart.


The girl is only identified as Emily, who had been receiving chemotherapy at Phoenix Children's Hospital for about a month, Phoenix police Sgt. Steve Martos said Monday.
An infection forced doctors to amputate her right arm and insert a catheter in her heart. She left before her scheduled release when her mother removed her IV, changed her clothes and walked her out of the facility Wednesday night.
Police said the girl could contract a deadly infection if the catheter is left in too long.
"If she contracts an infection, it really could just be a matter of days that could result in the young girl's death," Martos said. "It's pretty serious."
Authorities refrained from releasing the parents' names due to health privacy laws, but police said Monday that U.S. Border Patrol stopped the girl's father, 46-year-old Luis Bracamontes, as he crossed into Arizona from Mexico over the weekend.
Bracamontes provided no clues to the girl's whereabouts and denied having any involvement in removing her from the hospital, Martos said. Police released his name, along with that of the girl's mother, 35-year-old Norma Bracamontes, in hopes it will help locate the child.
Neither parent is charged with a crime yet, but authorities want the child brought back to the hospital before it's too late, Martos said. He said the family lives a "nomadic" life without a permanent residence, but they have relatives in Arizona, California and Mexico, none of whom have been able to provide police with information about their whereabouts.
Martos said the girl's father is a Mexican citizen with a U.S. resident alien identification card. The child and her mother are U.S. citizens.
Authorities don't know why the child's parents took her from the hospital, but speculate they might have been concerned with paying the bill.
Surveillance footage shows the mother pushing an IV stand through a hospital hallway. The girl, with her right arm removed above the elbow and wrapped in a bandage, is seen walking beside her.
"We just don't know what their intent was," Martos said. "But this could become extremely serious if she contracts an infection ... Our primary concern is she get the proper medical care so we can prevent obviously the worst case scenario here
 

luqy69

Lurker
They have found the child she is in Mexico with her mother the father said they removed the girl from there because when she went in for the chemo and she was perfectly fine and then she got the infection on her arm the mother asked about it and the staff said not to worry about it but it got worse the parents have pics where it just like a little bruise then in a few days it was almost her whole arm they said that it could have been treated/avoided but the staff acted like the parents didnt know what they were talking about but the infection got so bad that they had to amputate, yes i understand that thats not the best thing to do but they felt like they had to protect their child and not leave her there any longer she is being treated n a hospital in mexico and from my understanding she is doing very well :)
 

ramblar

Forum Veteran
They have found the child she is in Mexico with her mother the father said they removed the girl from there because when she went in for the chemo and she was perfectly fine and then she got the infection on her arm the mother asked about it and the staff said not to worry about it but it got worse the parents have pics where it just like a little bruise then in a few days it was almost her whole arm they said that it could have been treated/avoided but the staff acted like the parents didnt know what they were talking about but the infection got so bad that they had to amputate, yes i understand that thats not the best thing to do but they felt like they had to protect their child and not leave her there any longer she is being treated n a hospital in mexico and from my understanding she is doing very well :)
I hope that this is true but your source would be greatly appreciated please.
 

ramblar

Forum Veteran
I hope that this is true but your source would be greatly appreciated please.
This is all I could find about her disapearance.
Father: Sick girl safe and being treated in Mexico
By By BRIAN SKOLOFF, Associated Press–16 hours ago
PHOENIX (AP) — The mystery surrounding the whereabouts of a sick girl with leukemia deepened Wednesday after her father said his 11-year-old daughter is being treated in Mexico and authorities considered bringing child neglect charges against the family.
Phoenix police have been looking for Emily since surveillance video one week ago showed the girl's mother walking her out of Phoenix Children's Hospital a day before the child was set to be released.
Authorities are searching for the girl in Arizona, California and Mexico, where the family has relatives, as doctors say she could contract a potentially deadly infection if not returned for treatment.
The girl underwent about a month of chemotherapy and had been treated for an infection that forced doctors to amputate her arm, police said. Doctors had inserted a tube through her chest to deliver medications through her heart. Her mother unhooked the tubing from an IV and left with the girl, leaving her susceptible to infection.
Phoenix police said the parents could face criminal neglect charges if they didn't return the girl.
U.S. Border Patrol agents stopped the father, Luis Bracamontes, 46, as he crossed into Arizona from Mexico over the weekend, but the man denied any involvement in removing his daughter from the hospital and said he didn't know where she was.
However, in an interview this week with NBC News, Bracamontes said his daughter was safe and being treated by doctors in Mexico.
"She is well and she is fine," he said while declining to reveal where the girl was being treated.
Bracamontes blames the Phoenix hospital for the loss of his daughter's arm and says the family was being pressured over mounting medical bills. He displayed photos of the girl both before and after the surgery and talked on his mobile phone to a girl and a woman he claimed were his daughter and wife.
The hospital cannot comment on Emily's condition due to health privacy laws, but in a statement Wednesday said decisions about patient care are not based on ability to pay.
"Phoenix Children's Hospital is deeply concerned about Emily's safety and well-being and continues to cooperate with law enforcement," the hospital statement read. "If Emily's family has questions about her care, we encourage open communication and discussion of options with the care team."
The girl's grandfather, Luis Bracamontes, said he has not talked to his son in 15 days and doesn't know where the girl is — including if she is even in Mexico.
"We are worried because we don't know what's going on," said Bracamontes, 76, in Spanish from his home in San Jose, Calif.
He doesn't know why the girl was taken from the hospital but said the amputation might have had something to do with it. He said some of his relatives are assuring him that the girl is fine and getting good medical attention.
Bracamontes said his son sometimes lived in San Jose and sometimes in Phoenix. The family is originally from Mexico.
Phoenix police, meanwhile, say the story of the girl's father raises even more red flags.
"We're in the same spot we were in last Thursday when we began looking for her," police Sgt. Steve Martos said Wednesday. "We understand the right of a parent to change doctors, to change hospitals, we're not challenging that. We just want to make sure that Emily is getting the right medical attention that she requires to prevent this potential horrific ending."
Martos said doctors in Phoenix told authorities that if Emily's catheter is not tended to, it could make her susceptible to a deadly infection that could kill her in a matter of days.
Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, said Emily's immune system is already compromised from the cancer and chemotherapy.
"If bacteria get into the blood stream, that can cause a serious infection," Schaffner said.
The open catheter could serve as a pathway for bacteria, he said, adding that a potentially deadly infection is not only possible, but likely.
Martos said the father's story only adds to investigators' bewilderment that began when the mother inexplicably removed the child from the hospital. He said surveillance video shows the mother and child getting into a dark-colored minivan, but the license plates on the car were registered to a different vehicle.
"It all just makes us even more curious that they're unwilling to provide us with basic information to confirm what he is saying, and they're still trying to hide Emily," Martos said. "There's certainly the potential for some criminal charges."
"So we're going to continue looking for her until we either run out of leads or she is found," he added. "We can't just drop it."
Associated Press writer Brady McCombs contributed to this report from Salt Lake City.
 
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