Listen to the heartbreaking phone call between CHOP doctors and the parents of a boy who died: ‘We are so, so sorry’
In a phone call with the CHOP doctor who performed a procedure on her son, Michael Sylvestre’s mother told him: ‘I don’t even know how you could sleep that night.’
About two weeks after their 5-year-old son Michael died at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Michael and Hollie Sylvestre spoke by phone with two CHOP doctors.
CHOP cardiologist Christopher L. Smith and cardiac critical care doctor David Hehir agreed to the couple’s request to record the conversation. The audio and a transcript are now part of their medical malpractice lawsuit against CHOP and Smith.
» READ MORE: CHOP pioneered a lifesaving lymphatic procedure, but some kids died or suffered strokes. Risks were downplayed.
During the hour-long call, the Arizona couple wanted to know what went wrong during their son’s lymphatic procedure, whether his death could have been prevented, and why Smith told them prior to the procedure that no child had died previously. Here are six audio clips, selected by The Inquirer, from the July 2022 conversation:
Trouble finding the lymphatic leak
Smith, who performed the procedure, explains that he had trouble finding the lymphatic leak in the boy’s right lung during the June 27, 2022, procedure. He says he ordered a bronchoscopy, in which a thin tube was inserted down Michael’s throat into the lungs, to help find the leak.
‘We are so, so sorry’
Smith tells Hollie Sylvestre that he wishes he could go back and change the outcome.
‘We’ve learned a lot’
Hehir explains how complex lymphatic cases can be. If not for the CHOP doctors who pioneered and now perform the procedure, children with plastic bronchitis like Michael have “very high mortality.”
A sleepless night
Hollie and Michael Sylvestre ask Smith if he knew their son would die when he left that night. Smith said he didn’t sleep that night thinking about Michael and checking on him by phone. Hehir, who was on duty that night, asks to add “a bit of my perspective in the evolution of things.”
Standard practices ‘failed’
Hollie Sylvestre asks what the doctors might have done differently in hindsight. Smith answers, saying that he would improve his communication with parents before, during, and after the procedure and that he believes standard practices “failed.”
‘Please don’t do that’
Hehir explains that their son, Michael, was “quite sick.” Michael and Hollie Sylvestre explain that they knew what his underlying health problems were at the time and the doctors shouldn’t use that as a “crutch.”