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Parents say baby injured at hospital

St. Joseph's Children's Hospital officials say it is not clear how the 5-week-old's leg was fractured.

By LISA GREENE
Published July 27, 2006

TAMPA - Five-week-old Ethan Bashara went to St. Joseph's Children's Hospital on Saturday night because he couldn't keep his formula down.

He came home trussed in a harness to stabilize a broken leg. His parents contend hospital workers broke it while strapping Ethan down for a radiology procedure.

"I brought my son here when he was sick, and now he's broken," said Ethan's mother, Leann Bashara, 29.

The couple was angry that the hospital called in child abuse investigators, who questioned them. The hospital was just following standard procedure, said spokeswoman Lisa Patterson.

Hospital officials said Wednesday that "there was no indication of abuse" and confirmed that the hospital diagnosed a baby with a spiral leg fracture. But the hospital still is investigating, and it's not clear how the baby was injured, Patterson said.

"At this point we don't know what caused the fracture," Patterson said.

Ethan Bashara's injury is the second time in two months that a family has hired a lawyer and gone public with allegations of a medical error at a hospital that is part of the BayCare Health System.

In June, the family of Elisha Crews Bryant came forward to say that Bryant, who was seven months pregnant, died in May because staffers at South Florida Baptist Hospital in Plant City gave her an overdose of a drug commonly used to stall preterm labor. Hospital officials acknowledged that a nurse mistakenly gave Bryant a lethal dose.

In Ethan's case, Patterson said the hospital had no choice but to contact abuse investigators.

"It's doing our due diligence as an organization," she said.

Both the doctor who investigated the case and a spokeswoman for the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office, which investigated, said they can't comment on specific cases.

The incident occurred just a few days after Ethan's father, Brian Bashara, 25, was arrested July 20 on a burglary charge. He has a prior record that includes driving under the influence, altering a driver's license and possessing alcohol under age 21.

The Basharas' attorney, Kimberley M. Kohn, said Brian Bashara's arrest and record aren't relevant to Ethan's care. The couple wouldn't have been allowed to bring him home if there were any suspicion of abuse, she said.

"Just because a parent has a criminal record doesn't make it acceptable for a hospital to provide poor care," she said.

The Basharas, who had Ethan home with them at a news conference Wednesday afternoon, said a doctor who investigated the incident told them his report would say Ethan's injury was caused by hospital staffers. That report wasn't immediately available.

[Last modified July 27, 2006, 01:18:06]