Girl bitten by ants ‘slowly died’ due to hospital’s negligence, GA lawsuit says
The parents of a 2-year-old girl watched their child “needlessly” die at a Georgia hospital after she was bitten by fire ants and then had an allergic reaction, according to a lawsuit they’ve filed over her death.
Maya Getahun needed immediate medical help when her parents brought her to Piedmont Eastside Medical Center’s emergency room in Snellville on Oct. 7, a complaint filed April 4 in Gwinnett County says.
Though Maya was clearly having an allergic reaction, ER staff waited more than 20 minutes to give her an injection of epinephrine, according to the complaint.
The hospital’s delay in giving Maya epinephrine exacerbated her respiratory distress, according to the complaint, which says she arrived at the hospital with a rash while wheezing and struggling to breathe.
When Maya’s treating physician went to intubate her, the doctor realized there was no pediatric-sized intubation equipment available, the complaint says.
The doctor learned the hospital lacked the equipment after she administered Maya a sedative, according to the complaint, which says she ultimately wasn’t able to intubate her.
As a result, “Maya’s parents looked on helplessly as their daughter slowly died from lack of oxygen,” the complaint says.
Now Bethelhem Getu Hundie and Getahun Birhanu, Maya’s parents, are suing, saying the hospital and its staff are to blame for their daughter’s death.
Their lawsuit names the hospital, the facility’s parent company Piedmont Healthcare, the doctor and 10 unnamed parties as defendants.
Piedmont Healthcare didn’t immediately return McClatchy News’ request for comment April 7.
Attorney Lloyd Bell, who specializes in medical malpractice cases and is representing the family who filed the lawsuit, said in an emailed statement to McClatchy News on April 8 that he was “shocked and horrified” when he learned how Maya died.
After Maya’s arrival at the ER, she immediately needed epinephrine to stop her body’s allergic response to the ant bites, the lawsuit says.
Bell said “there was plenty of time to treat the allergic reaction.”
“But for reasons that are not yet clear, the ER staff did not immediately give Maya epinephrine,” he told McClatchy News.
Epinephrine injections are used to help treat “life-threatening allergic reactions caused by insect bites or stings, foods, medications, latex, and other causes,” according to MedLine Plus.
The lawsuit specifically accuses Maya’s nurse who triaged her and took notice of her allergy symptoms of being negligent in providing her with care, along with Maya’s doctor who couldn’t intubate her.
“Maya literally suffocated in front of her parents as the nurses opened drawers in the ER searching for a child-sized breathing tube,” Bell said. “With proper care, Maya would still be alive and well.”
The hospital, located about a 35-mile drive northeast from Atlanta, and Piedmont Healthcare are also negligent in Maya’s death, according to the complaint.
“Piedmont Healthcare owed its patients a duty of ordinary care to stock the Hospital with appropriate equipment, particularly for a pediatric intubation,” the complaint says.
State records show that the doctor assigned to treat Maya specializes in emergency medicine and also has hospital privileges at Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge, Georgia.
On Dec. 4, 2019, a $375,000 medical malpractice judgment and a second $350,000 medical malpractice judgment were awarded against the doctor, according to Georgia Composite Medical Board records.
The doctor’s license is still active, records show. No disciplinary actions or hospital privilege revocations are listed for her.
Bell told McClatchy News that the case over Maya’s death is the third lawsuit his firm, Bell Law Firm in Atlanta, has brought against the same doctor “and the 2nd involving the wrongful death of a patient from a botched intubation.”
With their lawsuit, Maya’s parents seek to recover damages “for the conscious pain and suffering experienced by Maya as a result of defendants’ negligence” and for her medical and funeral costs, the complaint says.
They’re asking the court for a judgment of more than $10,000, as well as a jury trial, the filing shows.
This story was originally published April 7, 2025 at 4:20 PM with the headline "Girl bitten by ants ‘slowly died’ due to hospital’s negligence, GA lawsuit says."
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