heart complications

[lisaob1]

if a childs heart is 3 times the size in a post mortem..would this happen overnight? is being told your child is pigeon chested wrong?..especially when there was obvious clubbing of fingers and syanosis....is there any doctor out there that has any ethics anymore?

[lisaob1]

thankyou so much for your honesty..believe me it means a lot..my daughter was 3 yrs and 9 months when she died during open heart surgery...they didn't even perform the operation.just opened her up and saw the damage and closed her bk up again..she didn't pull through..the hole in her heart caused the problems..but it ended up because nothing was done..the hole was in fact keeping her alive relieving the pressure....I know from the bottom of my heart so much more should of been done.at the time I was so  young and put my faith in doctors..as people should I might add..i appreciate my daughters condition is extremely rare also...but as a mum..i will always feel let down and heartbroken..again..thankyou for your reply and your honesty.doctors hearing my situation tend to do circles around the truth..a bit like politicians....its been such a long time ago now..but she is always in my heart and il never stop wondering if things were different

[Marie M Gleason, M.D.]

There is very little that can be answered here. Post-mortum changes can occur after death, but significant heart enlargement likely occurs over time, prior to death, but the amount of time can be variable, depending upon the circumstances.  Children can have structural deformities of the chest called "pectus" and it can be a "sunken" chest (pectus excavatum) or a protruding or "pigeon chest" (pectus carinatum).  Cyanosis and clubbed fingers indicate either significant heart and/or lung disease.