After seven postponements of surgical intervention, this child is now considered “inoperable”.

A Scottish woman said her 10-year-old daughter’s “chance to live” had been “sacrificed”. The child suffers from Rette syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects brain development and causes advanced scoliosis. Little Eva’s spine suffered from such twists and turns that the little girl became “passive,” doctors told her mother.

The latter, however, pointed to multiple postponements of scheduled surgical operations and accused her of jeopardizing her daughter’s chances, the BBC reported on Wednesday.

The need for information

As of May 2022, Eva’s spinal curvature is 60.89 degrees. Last year it was 107.9 degrees and today it’s 110 degrees, said mother Jill Lockhart. “They waited so long, and now they say it’s too late,” she lamented. As she goes through the events, she believes that she does not understand the situation.

“We were told last week that the operation could take place on March 28. Today we’re being told it’s inefficient and I can’t get any explanation from the hospital as to why the situation changed so quickly,” Jill Lockhart testified.

Eva “could live another 15 to 30 years” with a well-executed spinal operation, but “without that, she risks dying,” the mother laments. Since September 2023, seven surgical operations have been scheduled and then canceled at Sick Kids Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland (United Kingdom). Three interventions were canceled due to staff shortages, and four others were canceled following the toddler’s breathing difficulties. These postponements complicated Eva’s situation. The current curvature of the girl’s spine increases the pressure on her internal organs, putting the patient at risk.