Qadira was admitted to St. Providence Vincent's emergency room at 10:38 PM, 58 minutes after Karellen discovered her burn. To clarify the timeline of events:
Upon their arrival at the hospital, Qadira was admitted for emergency care as per standard procedure. However, the care she received fell short of these standards. The inadequacies in Qadira’s treatment are vividly detailed by Karellen in her recounting of the events.
"And so it was on April 12th 2007 not long after I discovered Qadira all burnt up in our neighbor’s basement we arrived at Providence Saint Vincent’s Hospital in search of help for our daughter.
It had been about a half an hour since Aimee had led me down into the basement. Everything was a blur. I was led to a chair for check in. Renee had disappeared with Qadira. They had wheeled her straight back and he had gone with her. The admitting nurse was asking me what happened and I told her what I knew which wasn’t much at the time. She asked me. “Do you think this was abuse?” My heart started pounding. What was this lady talking about?"
Where was my daughter? My daughter hadn’t been abused. Why was she saying these things to me? I was frantic. My daughter was going to be fine. My heart was pounding so hard I could feel it beating in my ears. I firmly told her that I had no idea what those people had been doing. Why was she asking me what I thought? Where was my daughter? I wanted to see my daughter. Was she okay? Why was I sitting out here in the lobby when Qadira needed me?" (Pg. 39)
"Finally after what felt like an eternity she took me to see Qadira. She was laying on an emergency bed her face all puffed up and red from crying. Why hadn’t they treated her yet?
I was trying to comfort her when the same nurse who had been at the admitting desk came in with a big vial of Motrin, she shoved it into Qadira’s mouth and instructed another male nurse to bandage her leg. Within minutes she was handing us some papers and sending us home. The male nurse picked Qadira up and placed her in Renee’s arms and directed us out the door." (Pg. 39)
"We left the hospital and took Qadira home even though most of her tiny little leg was covered in bandages and she couldn’t walk. She was diagnosed with a burn on 10-20% of her body. They gave us some discharge papers telling us to come back if things got any worse.
Like things could really get any worse? So when we got up the next morning we had no idea what to do with Qadira. She was in terrible pain and we had no idea how to change her bandages or if we should change her bandages. We didn’t even have any bandages." (Pg. 40)
Qadira’s visit to the emergency room left the Stephens family with limited understanding of how to properly care for her wound. They were perplexed by the severity of the injury and unsure about the potential complications it might cause in her future.
Unfortunately, the absence of a referral to a burn specialist by Dr. Julie Andrews at St. Providence Vincent’s set a precedent that continued during Qadira's later treatment at OHSU (Oregon Health & Science University).
We have obtained every report from Providence St. Vincent related to Qadira’s injuries, including the initial admitting record, the amended record, and a final coding summary. These documents are available below for review, each accompanied by a brief analysis.
You may review Qadira's healthcare records from the night of April 12th, 2007. Including the discharge papers the Stephens' were sent home with.
Qadira's timeline in the emergency room was brief but critical:
During this time, Dr. Julie Andrews took the following actions:
** The decision to prescribe Tylenol with codeine to a child with severe burns was both alarming and highly inappropriate. Tylenol with codeine is an opioid that can pose severe risks in pediatric patients due to their unpredictable metabolism. Children, particularly those in a hypermetabolic state induced by severe burns, can convert codeine into morphine at dangerously high rates, leading to potential respiratory depression or even death. This risk was further compounded by the lack of monitoring and follow-up care, making this prescription not only unusual but dangerously irresponsible. The fact that Qadira was sent home without supervision, especially after receiving a powerful opioid, deviates from standard medical practice, where a child with severe pain from burns should have been managed with stronger pain relief under strict medical supervision in a hospital setting. The decision to send her home with only Tylenol and codeine, rather than admitting her for appropriate pain management and observation, is highly irregular and suggests a gross misjudgment of the situation or worse. The fact that Qadira stopped taking the medication due to feeling unwell likely prevented a more tragic outcome, as continued use under these conditions could have been fatal. This also means that she received virtually no pain management for her injury.
Dr. Andrews' instructions to Karellen and Renee included:
However, Dr. Julie Andrews did not do the following:
Report the Injury: The nature of Qadira’s burn was not reported to law enforcement, as required by law.
Specialist Referral: Karellen and Renee were not directed to a burn center.
You can review Dr. Julie Andrews' amended report below. Please take note of the following key details:
The final report generated by St. Providence Vincent, two weeks after Qadira’s injury, provides significant details regarding her diagnosis:
There are several clinical concerns regarding the care provided by Providence healthcare personnel in treating Qadira's burns, which required more advanced medical attention than was initially given.
Initial Treatment and Concerns:
Further Complications:
Medical Assessments and Shortcomings:
Referral to Specialist:
St. Providence Vincent had a legal obligation to report Qadira's injury to both the Portland Police and the Oregon Department of Human Services (DHS) immediately upon her admission. This obligation is underscored by an incident Karellen recalls in her account, where a nurse questioned whether Qadira's injuries resulted from child abuse. Karellen's uncertain response, "she didn't know," should have, according to law, triggered a child abuse investigation that considered all adults involved, including Todd, Aimee, Karellen, Renee, and any other adults present, as potential suspects.
Despite these clear legal requirements, the mandatory reporting system was not activated due to Dr. Julie Andrews categorizing the incident as an "accident" and amending her initial report three days later without notifying the appropriate authorities. In this amended report, she claimed that both Karellen and Qadira had insisted the injuries were accidental—a statement highly unlikely as Qadira, then 8 years old, was in too much pain to speak effectively during the visit. This mischaracterization was further perpetuated in the coding summary of Qadira's treatment at St. Providence Vincent, which continued to label the injury as an accident.
The motive behind Dr. Andrews’ actions—whether to cover a procedural mistake or for reasons more nefarious—remains unclear, as there is no documented rationale for her decision made just three days after the incident. Regardless of whether a subsequent investigation found Qadira’s injury to be accidental, Dr. Andrews' conduct failed to meet the expected professional standards.
The laws governing the mandatory reporting of Qadira's injury fall under ORS 419B of the 2005 Oregon Revised Statutes, which mandate that all individuals Qadira later interacted with—including doctors, school officials, police officers, and notably, lawyers—were legally required to report her injury.
Stand With Stephens
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