Family of Girl in Coma Contemplates Legal Action

By Matt Wood in News on Sep 27, 2006 7:05PM

By now you've surely heard the terrible story about Diamond Brownridge, the 5-year-old Chicago girl left in a coma after being sedated during a dental procedure. She has been in a coma since Saturday, and despite some reports we had heard on TV, her family has no intention of taking her off life support yet. CBS 2 did report today, however, that her parents began taking the necessary legal steps to determine if the case is eligible for a malpractice suit.

Whether the family eventually wins any kind of judgment seems like it would be little consolation to us, as it would never bring her back. They may be holding out hope for a recovery, but we know this isn't going to end well. As for the dentist, Dr. Hicham Riba, he seems resorted to the fact that his life is ruined as well. He's already received death threats, his practice here is probably finished, and he'll forever have this incident on his conscience.

We'll be interested to see the details of this tragedy unfold, if only out of a morbid sense of needing to understand how it happened. But we can't imagine any explanation being all that satisfactory.