LI dad says infant son is fighting for his life in NYC hospital after a botched circumcision: ‘He looks like he's been through war'
A Long Island dad says what should have been a routine circumcision for his newborn son in a New York City hospital has left the little guy fighting for his life.
Cole Jordan Groth was born on March 31 at NewYork-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital — although he was diagnosed with a congenital heart disease, he was otherwise healthy — and scheduled to go home with his parents to meet his two-year-old older brother at their Long Island house in Lake Grove on April 16.
Two days prior, the doctors called Tim Groth, and his wife Gabrielle, asking if they wanted to have their son circumcised, and what transpired turned into a 'parent's worst nightmare,' Groth, 35, told The Post Monday.
Within a few hours of the common procedure, the infant nearly bled to death, started having seizures and suffered damage to multiple organs, the dad said.
When his wife came to the hospital to go over her son's discharge the next day on April 15, she discovered the baby boy was 'pale, screaming and despondent,' Groth said.
'It's just horrible,' he added.
Over the next 10 days, Cole had to receive blood transfusions daily and had multiple surgeries — including one on his stomach since parts of his intestines had failed due to the blood loss.
The boy, who remains in critical condition, was put on a respirator, given pain medications, has a colostomy bag to go to the bathroom and is receiving all his nutrition intravenously, Groth said.
'He looks like he's been through war,' the dad added. 'He's pale, vascular … you see the hole in his stomach for the ostomy bag. Part of me is really angry.
'All of it was so avoidable and so unnecessary. Part of me is really sad. My son is obviously suffering … you wouldn't wish this on your worst enemy.'
The father filed a grievance with the hospital searching for answers.
He explained that his son's bleeding was discovered by a nurse around 2:30 a.m. on April 15 but it wasn't until after 5 a.m. that blood work was finally ordered. And the attending doctor wasn't notified until 8:30 a.m., during a shift change, about what was happening.
'They failed to stop the bleeding and failed to identify and diagnose how much blood he lost,' he said. 'You can't go from a circumcision to a baby nearly bleeding to death and have done things the right way.'
Baby Cole faces a long road to recovery.
He's expected to remain in the cardiac neonatal intensive care unit for months as doctors hope to eventually perform another surgery to reconnect his intestines so they can remove the colostomy bag.
The family set up a GoFundMe page on April 19 hoping to raise $50,000 to pay for the months of treatment now needed. As of Monday afternoon, the page for Cole had received nearly $60,000 in donations.
And there have been some positive signs — the baby hasn't required a blood transfusion in several days. But his parents are still bracing for any long-term implications.
'I spent my time crying,' Groth said. 'I've gotten to the point now where I have to deal with it. Now it's a lifetime of we have to figure out what's the next complication.'
Throughout the harrowing ordeal, the hospital, Groth said, has been sympathetic, but also careful not to admit any wrongdoing.
'They have done their best to show as much compassion and empathy as they can without really having any sort of accountability,' he said. 'They have chosen their words wisely.'
A spokesperson for NewYork-Presbyterian told The Post that they couldn't comment, citing 'patient privacy policies.'
Groth works as a CEO running a pain management practice on Long Island that his father, a doctor, founded. He said his father and other family members — also in the medical industry — have told him Cole's case shows the hospital 'definitely' didn't follow the 'standard of care' or 'act urgently enough.'
The distraught dad said he hasn't lawyered up yet, but admitted he hasn't ruled out legal action down the road.
'At the end of the day, we are kind of just still hoping that he lives,' Groth said.
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