|
Drowning syndrome (June 1, 2012) |
STANFORD — A Harrodsburg infant is recovering after an unusual drowning-type incident that occurred at the beach at Cedar Creek Lake.
Ashley Powell, director of Stanford Emergency Medical Services, said he responded to a call of an unresponsive child at the lake about 2 p.m. Wednesday. The 8-month-old girl was breathing when Powell arrived and was taken to Fort Logan Hospital in Stanford and then airlifted to the University of Kentucky Medical Center, where the treating physician speculated she might have suffered from “drowning syndrome,” Powell said.
Witnesses told Powell that the baby girl was with her mother at the water’s edge when the infant became unresponsive. A nearby nurse performed CPR and revived the baby, which regurgitated water during the process, witnesses said. The infant, however, was never submerged in the water, Powell said.
The treating physician said the child could have taken in water while being splashed or might have suffered some unexplained medical episode that initially caused her to be unresponsive, Powell said.
Even though she was breathing normally after the incident, she was flown to the pediatric unit at the Lexington hospital as a precautionary measure because sometimes drowning syndrome can reoccur within six hours when an infant is involved, Powell said.
The baby has since been released from the hospital and returned home to her family, Powell said.
