Teen Dies Of A Stroke Doctors Mistook For Nicotine Overdose
Teen Dies Of Stroke Doctors Mistook For Nicotine Overdose
We talk a lot about the negative associations people have with vaping. Combine the ignorance and lack of information with improperly diagnosing patients and you have a pretty serious case of malpractice on your hands. And when that patient is a suffering teenager who you choose to punish instead of help, this case of malpractice turns into a tragedy that could have been easily prevented.
Kyle Losse was a high school baseball player who was rushed to the hospital after collapsing in his bathroom. He was found unresponsive on the floor, a vaping device nearby. When he arrived at the hospital in a debilitated state, the doctors were informed of the vape at the scene of the incident, and threw away all other possibilities and blamed his condition on a nicotine overdose.
They performed no brain scans and didn’t even test his blood for nicotine levels. They only tested the vape juice in his device and found it did include nicotine. They however didn’t check his system to see if he had consumed enough of it to be having such a dramatic reaction.
“I feel like they chalked it up to a stupid kid using an e-vape and didn’t fully look at everything that happened,” His stepmother Niki told CTV News, “They made it seem like those were normal reactions to an e-vape… Especially when they released us… They assumed it was nicotine and a nicotine overdose, but they never tested for that. I just feel like running that test to ensure that was the cause, would have come back negative and they could have started testing for something else.”
No doubt, had doctors done this there is a high chance Kyle would still be alive today. Instead, they sent Kyle home at 6AM the following morning, unaware that he was still having a non-vaping related stroke.
Delta hospital did say they preformed a cognizance test on Kyle before discharging him. However, his stepmother had to help him dress himself and walk once they were home. She also said that Kyle was not speaking in complete or decipherable sentences. That afternoon he was rushed to a different hospital and placed on life support. He was removed from life support the next day and died.
When Kyle’s autopsy was completed they found no nicotine in his system at all. His mother believes the reason why he was near the vape at all, was unrelated to his use of it, he was most likely just “hiding it” from them. The most likely cause of his death (besides malpractice at Delta hospital) was a disease called fibromuscular dysplasia. FMD presents itself later in life typically, although it is likely that the form of FMD Kyle suffered from was a form that represents only 10% of FDM patients, but presents itself suddenly in minors.
The doctors at Delta hospital completely dismissed all the warning signs of this disease, failed to test any further for another underlying cause, all because the boy was found near a vape device that contained nicotine.
The device was purchased for Kyle by his friend's father who's name and information are now with local police who are going forward determining how to handle the situation. Niki Losse does advise parents to always be aware of underage vaping, to warn your kids about the addictive qualities of nicotine, and believes regulations need to be improved to avoid underage sales of vaping devices.
Even if Kyle had been vaping at the time of his initial fall, they should have gone forward with other testing, seeing as a nicotine overdose with that much damage could only come from literally ingesting large quantities of straight vape juice. His delirium, low blood pressure, and slowed heart rate were not signs typically associated with a nicotine overdose.
And doctors should have known that, but were blinded by the big bad vape found near their patient. They were so convinced vaping could cause that much harm that they didn’t test further for nicotine or any other issues. They let the fear of vaping speak for them.
This story is a sad and tragic one, not meant to say that vaping is completely risk free. It’s meant to highlight the worse issue that even some of the highest medical professionals, who hold lives in their hands daily, have fallen to the ignorance and fear surrounding e-cigarettes being pushed by legislators and anti vaping evangelists. And it is that misinformation about E-cigarettes that took the life of Kyle Losse.
7 Comments
What a tragedy. Disgusting that doctors would jump to the erroneous conclusion that an e-cig was the definite cause of this young man’s medical problems. Obviously doctors need to educate themselves regarding electronic vaping devices and the strengths of ejuice available. Also apparently need educated on how much nicotine would cause symptoms of overdose. I’m very disturbed by this article. I hope the malpractice suit is a great enough outcome to cause these and other doctors to educate themselves.
Karina: Thank you. For me, as a vaper and father of a 13 year old girl I think this is is great information so thanks.
My daughter knows I vape and quit smoking. I had a talk with her told her that I do it so I don’t go back to smoking. Right now she’s at an age where I need to very careful not to make vaping sound cool or make her think it’s okay in any way for an adolescent to vape. I don’t vape around her and if we are out together for longer periods I try and stay out of sight. I’m sure she sees me once in awhile or smells the vapor but she needs to know that vaping is not okay for her to be doing and shouldn’t be done around children in gereral.
Karina: Thank you. For me, as a vaper and father of a 13 year old girl I think this is is great information so thanks.
My daughter knows I vape and quit smoking. I had a talk with her told her that I do it so I don’t go back to smoking. Right now she’s at an age where I need to very careful not to make vaping sound cool or make her think it’s okay in any way for an adolescent to vape. I don’t vape around her and if we are out together for longer periods I try and stay out of sight. I’m sure she sees me once in awhile or smells the vapor but she needs to know that vaping is not okay for her to be doing and shouldn’t be done around children in gereral.
@RichardSedivy There were no reports as to what device, brand of juice, or level of nicotine was in his device. Vaping a high MG nicotine liquid can in some cases result in feeling light headed, which is likely to cause fainting if you have a disease like FMD or heart conditions. However this was not the case for Losse as he had no nicotine found in his system according to the autopsy. If you have a condition or a history of strokes/mini strokes a high MG Nic Salt juice is highly discouraged! According to the CDC most E-Liquids do not contain enough nicotine to kill an adult who is vaping normally. If you began to vape abnormally, like an insane insane amount of high MG nicotine juice, you would become too unwell to continue vaping the needed amount to kill you. Ingesting 60ml is lethal. And again, Losse did not ingest any juice because there was none found in his system during the autopsy. Further more, if you are vaping a 50MG Nicotine Juice you’re only getting a small percentage of the 50MG in each puff, not a whole 50MG, that would be crazy and make you very ill. Like everything, vaping should be done in moderation.
If there was big half empty 120 bottle of juice next to the kid or in his backpack and juice smeared all over his lips and shirt, then thats one thing. But, if the kid only had a tfv8 or something big wich holds like 8ml would he be able to vape that much juice before puking and gaging falling over? Is it possible for that to happen when using a high power device with 50mg nic salts? I think that would be 400mg of nicotine. If anyone knows I thinks its worth posting to educate people