5-year-old migrant boy’s autopsy raises questions whether death was preventable: ‘He could have gotten life-saving care sooner’

A 5-year-old boy who fell ill at a Chicago migrant shelter died in December from sepsis and a bacterial infection that causes strep throat, according to the official autopsy.

It’s a death that one doctor observed could have been avoided, because the infection is “medically very, very treatable.”

Jean Carlos “Jeremías” Martinez Rivero died as a result of sepsis due to streptococcus pyogenes group A infection, which can cause strep throat and other life-threatening illnesses, pathologists with the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded in the report released Thursday.

La Voz Sidebar

Lea este artículo en español en La Voz Chicago, la sección bilingüe del Sun-Times.

Contributing factors in his death were listed as COVID-19, adenovirus and rhinovirus.

The migrant child died weeks after moving into Chicago’s largest migrant shelter, at 2241 S. Halsted St., holding around 2,500 people, half of them children. Residents there have said illness was spreading rapidly due to overcrowded conditions.

In the days following his death, providers at the shelter also reported high numbers of migrants testing positive for strep and criticized the city for the limited health care offerings available in the period leading up to his death.

The autopsy results confirm the boy died from an infectious disease, contradicting a statement from Mayor Brandon Johnson’s office days after the death that said: “The child does not appear to have died from an infectious disease.”

Public health officials had issued warnings late last year about an alarming rise in chickenpox among children in migrant shelters. Around 400 cases had been reported, mostly in migrant children. After Jean Carlos’ death, Johnson’s office said “there is no evidence of an outbreak at the shelter.”

In a statement Friday night, Johnson’s office noted sepsis “can lead to serious complications in as little as 24 hours.”

“The City of Chicago again expresses our deepest condolences to the family of Jean Carlos Martínez Rivero,” the mayor’s office said. “This is a tragic loss, and we appreciate the work of community partners supporting the Martínez Rivero family during this difficult time.”

One doctor said Jean Carlos’ autopsy results revealed a missed opportunity to save his life.

“Very rarely does an infection lead to death so quickly. Reading this, there’s a missed opportunity. He could have gotten life-saving care sooner,” said the doctor, who requested anonymity.

The doctor said the infection is “medically very, very treatable.”

Reports from the last days of the child’s life show that he had been visibly ill and had not seen a physician during that time, according to a police report.

He had had a fever for two or three days and complained of pain in his left leg, according to the report.

His parents gave him children’s Tylenol the day before he died as well as a “green pill,” believed to be ibuprofen.

The day of his death the family left the shelter in the morning and returned when Jean Carlos said he wasn’t feeling well.

When the family returned to the shelter, the boy’s lips turned purple and, in the shelter’s washroom, his mother saw his eyes roll back, and he fell unconscious. Staffers performed CPR on him on a table near the bathroom entrance as an ambulance was called.

He was pronounced dead at Comer Children’s Hospital at 3:47 p.m., the autopsy report states.

The autopsy report describes what can also be seen in photos and videos shared by the family — “a well-developed, well-nourished” child.

He weighed 64 pounds and stood about 3 1/2 feet tall, “compatible with the reported age of 5 years.” He had curly, brown hair, brown eyes, healthy teeth and his “fingernails were short, clean and intact.”

He was wearing a tan sweatshirt, pink socks and had no other personal effects, the report notes.

Despite appearances, “the most remarkable finding,” according to a microscopic examination, “is the widespread overgrowth of bacteria.”

Strep in the worst cases can lead to sepsis, or “severe immune response of the body against its own organs,” the report continues. “This can lead to septic shock and severe organ dysfunction, especially in children.”

When that happens at the same time as other “viral infections,” according to the report, it “further increases the risk of death.”

The family of the 5-year-old has since moved out of the Chicago shelter system and into an apartment with the help from a GoFundMe, but “they’re not really sure how to move on,” said Dr. Evelyn Figueroa, one of several volunteers helping the family.

Isaías, Jean Carlos’ younger brother, clearly misses him, Figueroa said.

“He’s a really active cute little kid who looks for his brother,” she said. “They have pictures of him up at the apartment, he talks to.”

The 2-year-old also takes the photo to the window to let his big brother see what’s going on in the street.

Provided

Michael Loria is a staff reporter for the Chicago Sun-Times via Report for America, a not-for-profit journalism program that aims to bolster the paper’s coverage of communities on the South Side and West Side.