Our 20 Day old Son Cole Jordan Groth is dying From a Circumcision in the Cardiac Nicu at Columbia Hospital in NY. Yes you heard that right- Dying in a cardiac nicu at one of the “best” hospital systems in the country from a Circumcision, like this is some sort of third world country.
On March 31st at 10.17am our son Cole Jordan Groth was born into the Cardiac Nicu at Columbia with CHD. After getting a PDA stent and being one of the healthiest babies on the floor, Cole was set for discharge Wednesday 4/16/2025. On Monday 4/14 at around 11pm Cole was Circumcised. Between 2am-9.30am Cole nearly bled to death. Cole Bled so much that he suffered Kidney damage, liver damage, neurological damage, had seizures, and worse intestinal damage. After what seemed like 3 days of recovery today at 4am we received a call from Columbia notifying us that part of our son Cole’s intestines died (NEC) and that they called in the surgeon for emergency surgery. After cutting him open they found 5 segments of his intestines had died and turned black and that there was feces throughout his abdomen. They proceeded to cut out the dead intestines and identified several other areas in the intestines that might die. Cole now sits in ICU left cut wide open, with countless tubes, medications, fluids, etc, helping us cling to the hope that he might live. Words can only touch the surface of the pain Cole, My wife Gabrielle Groth, our family and I feel physically and emotionally from this. As a society we need to do better we need to stand up for a change.
Where is the accountability in poor medicine? 5 years later when a lawsuit settles that’s accountability? The people responsible for decisions impacting life and death in our healthcare community need to be the most thoughtful and capable decision makers this country has, and yet we have a situation here that you wouldn’t even expect in a third world country from one of the “best” hospitals in the country. When are we going to say enough is enough? We all need to come together and demand change. We need to demand accountability in medicine and we can make Cole’s life meaningful by coming together around his story. Many people have reached out offering prayer and support, asking what they can do to help. All we ask is that Coles story is heard and that we as a community do our best to make changes. Therefore I want this post to go Viral, I want the news to cover it, and I want a wave of momentum that forces decision makers to listen. There is no place for carelessness in medicine in our country. Could you imagine scheduling your son’s circumcision and possibly having him die? We don’t want any other families or babies to experience the pain and heartbreak we are going through. If you know someone in the community who can help get our story heard please connect us. In the meantime we setup a Go Fund Me so that people can follow the rest of Cole’s story. Right now we don’t know whats to come but we know Cole’s future health care will be expensive and we know if he doesn’t make it we want his life to have been purposeful. We want to have resources that can impact change. Therefore we are raising money in Coles name. Please see the link below with more specifics about Cole’s story.