Do It For Drew

https://www.facebook.com/DoItForDrew

On June 28th, 2013 the staff at Carteret General Hospital took my son, Andrew “Drew” Davis Hughes away from me.

As an employee at Carteret General Hospital I was still at work when one of my other sons called me and told me Drew had been in an accident. My wife and son were at the scene in less than 5 minutes while I was talking to them on the phone. Drew was talking to my wife the entire time and she rode in the ambulance with Drew to Carteret General. I began to feel better knowing he was communicating with her. 

When they arrived at Carteret General I was by my son’s side the entire time until they intubated him to transfer him to Vidant. Drew has two older brothers, both of whom have had concussions. As a NC State Trooper and with experiences with my older sons, within minutes of talking to Drew I became less and less concerned. My oldest son had a worse concussion his senior year playing football than Drew appeared to have. I went into the room with him when they performed his CT scan a little over an hour after the accident. Everything came back normal with the exception of air by his right ear, and though none was seen, they suspected a “possible basilar skull fracture”. To demonstrate how aware Drew was, at one point during the CT I needed to remove his shorts for part of the scan. Drew immediately told me “#$%^ no, you’re not taking off my shorts in front of everyone” and I told him that I would leave on his boxers. The staff behind the glass got a good laugh out of this and I even laughed a bit. Drew knew what was going on. It was at this time that he looked me in the eyes and said, “Dad, I’m scared” to which I replied “You’re going to be OK” and I believed that with all my heart. I know my son..he was my best friend.

We then went back to the ED, after some time, they arranged to transport Drew via Carteret General’s EMS service. It was at this time that I was told that they needed to intubate him as a precaution for his safety. I didn't understand why, he was breathing on his own, but I got the impression I didn't have a choice and I needed to just trust that the staff knew what they were doing. The worse thing that would happen is he would sleep up to Greenville and everything would be OK. As I walked out of the room I said "I love you" to which Drew replied "I love you too Dad". Not long after intubating the first time, while still in the ED, Drew woke up and pulled out the tube. This made me nervous. He had not been sedated enough and Drew had the same reaction anyone would have if you woke up and had a tube in your airway. They sedated him further and prepared him for transport. At no time did I fear for his life. My wife came up to me and wanted to kiss him bye and I told her, “you can kiss him when we get to Greenville, he’s fine”. I wanted to get in the car so we could follow them to Greenville. I’m so sorry to my wife for that. Hindsight is 20/20 but at the time I knew he would be OK.

While on the way to Greenville, Drew woke up again and removed his tube. We could see him sit up in the back of the ambulance. He was aware enough to try to stop them from putting in an IV and he even tried to bite the RT who was trying to keep him from removing his tube. AT 3 hours after the accident he is aware of what he is doing and breathing on his own; that is, until four strangers strapped my son down and gave him a paralytic that kept him from moving or breathing on his own. From that point on Drew’s life was over. The thought of Drew being paralyzed and not sedated properly gives me nightmares. If he was aware for even 30 seconds and unable to breathe or move I couldn't stand it. I was sitting right behind the ambulance and my son, who had no doubt I would always protect him, was having his life taken away and I did nothing to help him. That was my job! Drew went without Oxygen for over 30 minutes because they intubated him improperly. Even though required by the State of North Carolina, the monitoring equipment required to be used for this type of intubation was not used. Even though Drew's oxygen level began to drop almost immediately after paralyzing him they never attempted to reintubate him or correct his airway, even though they had orders to do so. When the ambulance diverted to Carolina East Medical center the staff there was able to correct the mistake that was made but the damage was done. Drew was aware at 3+ hours after the accident but arrived at Vidant Medical Center with no brain activity. All Vidant could do for Drew was act on what they received not fully knowing what happened to Drew in the ambulance.

The more people learn about Drew’s case, the more good it can do. There is no reason that a hospital, like Carteret General Hospital, doesn't have a skilled team prepared for situations like this. The weather isn't going to be perfect and helicopters and critical care transport teams won’t always be available. If a patient needs to be transported who is going to do it? In Drew’s case it was just a roll of the dice. They needed a paramedic, an RT, and a Nurse and without thinking of qualifications they just put people with those titles on the ambulance with Drew. Not the best people they had, not by a long shot, just the next ones up. Why can’t they have a rapid response team on all shifts that maintain a high standard of training and skills? The hospital can build a 53 million dollar expansion, that only provides nicer facilities to do what they already do, but they can’t improve what’s needed now!? The Emergency Department is where about 80% of admissions come from. This community should expect nothing less than quality health care. The staff that treats you in the ED should be the best they can get. Just hope that you don’t have a serious injury or heart attack etc... when there’s bad weather. You never know who’ll be riding in the ambulance with you! That’s a thought no one should have to have and it needs to change!!

People can learn from what happened to Drew and there are signs this is starting to happen. It is already being done in a few places, but I would love for people to use what happened to Drew as a learning tool and that people never forget what happened. When medical professionals become complacent, mistakes are made. Countless lives can be saved from great harm or death if procedures are put in place to make sure something like this doesn't happen again. If anyone has any questions about what I've written please contact me. If you are interested in using this to make sure your crews are the best they can be please let me know. Please pass this on to anyone you feel can help further this cause or can benefit from learning about Drew Hughes. We have to live with the painful loss of Drew, and the gross negligence that caused his death, for the rest of our lives. Nobody else should have to live with this pain… ever!  
The staff of Carteret General Hospital took my son. He was the finishing piece to the puzzle that was our family. He was always happy and brought a balance to our home that was perfect.  

Until my last breath, if necessary, I will fight to make sure Drew did not die in vain. Carteret General can be a hospital to be proud of if the right actions are taken and I do pray for everyone involved. I can not move on until I know that everything that I can do has been done for my son. Drew Hughes will always be my son. He’s in my heart forever. 

David Hughes