Mother Used Internet Search To Diagnose Son’s Gunshot Wound In Lieu Of ER

Santa Fe, TX – The Santa Fe Police have charged a local woman with one count of injury to a child with intent to commit bodily injury after she failed to seek immediate medical attention for her son who sustained a gunshot wound.

The incident occurred around 6:30 pm Tuesday in the family’s home on the 10440 block of 27th Street, but authorities did not learn of the shooting until 2 am Wednesday, reports the Houston Chronicle.

A family friend living in the residence, 24-year-old Pete Jesse Rodriguez, was casually playing around with a firearm, pointed it directly at the teen, and for reasons unknown pulled the trigger. Rodriguez claims the gun just went off. The unnamed teen was struck in the upper left thigh.

Deborah Tagle, 55, is accused of intentionally waiting several hours before taking her injured teenage son to the hospital after the 14-year-old was shot in the leg. For nearly seven hours Tagle allegedly researched the boy’s injury on the internet, using sites like WebMD. Doctors typically caution against relying on internet searches to diagnose critical conditions, including gunshot wounds.

Eventually Tagle drove her son to Mainland Medical Center and the boy was later transferred to Mainland Medical Center by ambulance. Tagle was arrested, booked, and freed on a $40,000 bond.

Authorities accused Rodriguez of making false statements and after investigating further, charged him with one felony count of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury.

A gunshot wound to the leg can either fracture the femur (long bone of the thigh) or hit a major blood vessel causing a hemorrhage. One can quickly lose up to a liter-and-a-half-of-blood with this type of injury. The human body circulates a blood volume of roughly 5 liters or the equivalent of 1.32 gallons, which accounts for seven percent of overall body-weight. Losing more than a liter of blood can have adverse effects, resulting in dizziness, weakness, unconsciousness, and death.

An untreated gunshot wound allows for the possibility of infection, which in time, can lead to additional swelling and pain radiating from the entry wound, redness, and discharge. The injury can eventually become septic.

Along with exsanguination and blood poisoning (sepsis), the patient can also go into shock. Hypovolemic shock is an emergency condition in which severe blood and fluid loss makes the heart unable to pump enough blood to the body. This type of shock can cease function in other organs and ultimately lead to death.

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