University Daily Kansan, January 18, 1985
CAMPUS AND AREA
Page 9
Freezing girl revived at hospital in Olathe
By United Press International
OLATHE — A team of doctors yesterday revived a near-frozen, clinically dead 3-year-old girl who police said was found alone along a snow-packed rural road.
Megan Birmingham, who officers said may have spent as many as six hours outside in temperatures in the teens, was found lying near the edge of the road wearing only light clothes with no shoes or coat.
"She was basically dead when she was brought to the hospital," said Robert Mathews, a physician who led the Olathe Community Hospital emergency team that saved the young girl.
"No activity from her heart," he said. "Not breathing. Stiff. Blue and cold. Her body temperature didn't change." The temperature and its lower limits is 88 degrees.
Normal body temperature is 98.6 degrees.
BY MIDDAY, DOCTORS reported Megan's heart was again beating on its own and that her body temperature was on the rise. By midday Megan had her temperature upgraded from critical to serious as she regained consciousness and was
breathing without a respirator:
Mathews said it was too early to determine whether she suffered brain damage.
Police Capt. Jeff Herman said the case would be referred to the district attorney's office.
Police had begun searching for Megan early yesterday after her father reported his wife and daughter missing from their Lenexa home.
The woman's car was spotted by officers about 3:45 a.m. in Olathe, but it contained only the child's mother, who was said to be in a disoriented state. She was taken to Shawnee Merritt in nearby Merriam for observation
The child was found about two hours later on the edge of a rural road near the city limits of Olathe.
"The odds for resuscitating her were not favorable." Mathews said. They were not favorable at all. But everything looks encouraging.
Mathews said about 10 doctors, nurses and other medical personnel worked for more than three hours to evacuate the injured efforts began in the ambulance.
"The first thing to do in an instance like this is to get the core temperature back to normal even if the patient shows no activity," he said.
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