Google Search Spares Preemie From Risky Procedure

[jmiller]

Parents of prematurely delivered twins were able to grab a quick second opinion using Google, a move that proved beneficial, as the emergency surgery recommended by their doctor turned out to be unnecessary.

A letter to Google, posted on Google Blog, from proud parents Howard and Melissa of Boca Raton, Florida, details a traumatic experience.

Two weeks after the birth of Andrew and Carly, Andrew returned to the emergency room where doctors noted a drastic drop in his hemoglobin levels—from 14 to 7. Doctors decided an emergency blood transfusion was necessary to save the child’s life.

"We were shaken and quite upset," Howard recalls. "Armed with only a cell phone - and a very low battery - I was able to Google [hemoglobin "premature infant"] and found a medical journal article claiming that it's perfectly normal for preemies to have their hemoglobin levels drop to 7 between the first and third months of life, and apparently this is especially true with twins," goes the letter.

After researching on his own for a few hours, the neonatalogists admitted they were mistaken.

"Google literally saved our newborn son from having to endure an extremely dangerous, and totally unnecessary, blood transfusion. Melissa and I really appreciated your help with this one,” writes Howard to the folks at Google.