A Pittsburgh-area family says their sunny resort vacation in Mexico turned into a nightmare when a loose pool drain cover exposed a powerful suction that catastrophically injured their young daughter. The force of the pump pulled much of the child’s small intestine from her body, and she was airlifted home to Pittsburgh for emergency treatment. Surgeons rebuilt what they could, and the girl now survives on nightly intravenous nutrition while her parents beg other families to double-check pool safety before anyone gets in the water.
According to CBS Pittsburgh, Paloma Quatrini had been sitting in a shallow baby pool when the protective grate over a drain suddenly came off, exposing a high-force suction opening. Her father tried to pull her free but could not, the family told the station, and it took nearly two minutes for staff to stop the pump because the emergency shutoff was not easy to reach. They said Paloma was first taken to a nearby hospital, then flown to UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh for specialized pediatric care.
UPMC pediatric transplant surgeon Dr. Geoffrey Bond told CBS Pittsburgh that his team performed seven operations across two and a half months to stabilize Paloma and reconstruct as much of her digestive tract as possible. “As a dad, firstly, it’s a horrifying accident,” Bond said. Hospital staff described the injury as an evisceration, a rare and often fatal situation in which bowel is pulled from the body. According to the report, surgeons ultimately brought Paloma’s colon up and connected it to the remaining tract, and she now receives total parenteral nutrition through a central line every night…