Support Cole Jordan Groth's Fight for Life

Update 4/20/2025 Baby Cole is continuing to bleed and need transfusions so they are bringing him back to surgery now instead of tomorrow to assess his surgical site and intestines. Please keep him in your thoughts.

My name is Tim Groth, Father of Cole Jordan Groth.

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, 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. How can a licensed medical providers can “lose track” of a Cardiac ICU baby, not act with an abundance of caution, and ultimately cause the potential death of a child, and somehow be right back at work the next day like nothing happened? 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 what's 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.

Here is what we know about Coles care the night and early morning following his Circumcision:

11pm - circumcision

12-2am diaper checked 2x no bleeding

2.30am diaper full of blood, stool, urine, so full that it had leaked onto the sheets and his leg. This diaper weighed significantly more than any diaper he ever had before. Nurse informs NP who did circumcision and attending. NP comes and rewraps penis with steri-strips. No blood work is ordered, no labs are ordered.

3am- resident observed him at bedside noticed more bleeding and orders thrombin a coagulant which is applied at 3.30am

4am- penis is still slowly dripping blood

5am- Cole is pale and his temperature has dropped below acceptable levels.

5.15am blood work is ordered

5.40am blood is drawn

6.30am bloodwork comes back and his hematocrit has dropped from mid 30s to low 20s.

6.30am-7.10am an Np tried 4 times to put a line in but isn’t successful because he can’t get access due to the amount of blood loss

7.10am- 2 more people tried to put a line in adding up to a total 9 times without success.

Change of shift happens.

8.15am my wife Gabby arrives with anticipation of reviewing discharge and care procedures. They allow Gabby back to Cole where no one is trying to place a line or anything. They are actually looking for blankets because he is so cold. My wife wraps him in blanket she brought for discharge.

8.20am-8.30am the attending that is taking over the shift (night attending was never notified of the situation just the resident) sees Cole is despondent, Pale, and crashing. They ask my wife Gabby to leave.

8.45am they intubate Cole

9.15-9.30am a central line is placed by anesthesia and 40ml/kilo of blood is transfused “urgently”. Babies his age have typically 80-90ml/kilo of blood.

Our questions?

Why was blood not ordered at 2.30am?

When they noticed his temperature dropped at 5am and he looked pale, why was a central line not established before bleeding nearly to death? (HE WAS CRITICAL AT 5AM!)

Why wasn't an EPOC done sooner?

Is this the type of stuff we want to start happening regularly in our country?

We are living a nightmare, all we ask is that if you can't donate anything please share our story and help make Coles life meaningful and purposeful.