Photo: AZ Police Looking for Leukemia Patient, 11, Taken From Hospital by Mother
Arizona police and hospital workers are desperately trying to locate a young patient who was taken from a hospital by her mother.
Identified only as Emily, the 11-year-old was reportedly removed from the hospital while undergoing leukemia treatment. Though she was scheduled to be released the next day, hospital footage shows Emily’s mother, a 35-year-old only identified as Norma, waking the girl out of Phoenix Children’s Hospital.
The concern now is the chest catheter in Emily’s heart, which was placed there during treatment. The mother removed the IV from the catheter when she took her daughter from the hospital. Doctors who spoke with police informed them that should the catheter not be medically removed from her heart, she could potentially become infected and die.
Phoenix police have not given out last names because they do not want the parents to be afraid to return to a medical facility.
Due to her weakened immune system, Emily is at greater risk for infection and has already had to have one of her arms amputated.
The girl was last seen with her mother on Wednesday. Police say they may have left in a black Ford van being driven by the girl’s father, Luis, 46.
Police are having trouble located them as the family, which hails from Mexico, “have no locally listed records in Arizona,” according to ABC News
Those with any information regarding the family’s whereabouts are urged to contact Phoenix police immediately.
