HENRY COUNTY, Ga.,None — A metro Atlanta family wants to know why a 5-year-old girl with a broken arm died after visiting a Henry County urgent care clinic.
Channel 2 investigative reporter Aaron Diamant first got a tip about Kensley Kirby's death back in June, and chose to hold off reporting the story until the Henry County Coroner confirmed how she died.
This week, the coroner told Diamant that someone at the Family Medical Clinic on Hampton Road in McDonough gave Kensley a lethal dose of anesthesia.
Kensley's death has hit that community hard. Diamant found plenty of heavy hearts at Chevys Diner on Macon Street.
It was tragic, said diner owner and family friend Neil Daniell. We were shocked.
Daniell said he and his staff were shocked and deeply saddened since learning of Kensleys death.
She spent so much time here that she almost acted like she owned the place, Daniell recalled.
In June, Kensleys parents took her to the urgent care clinic after a fall.
They went from picking the color of the cast with their daughter to basically being with her as she died, said Pete Law, the Kirby familys attorney.
Law said clinic workers gave Lensley too much medicine while trying to set her arm instead of sending her to an emergency room.
This week, the Henry County Coroner confirmed that Kensley died from a lethal dose of a local anesthetic called lidocaine.
They should have turned it over to someone able to handle this situation earlier, Law said.
For family friends, their frustration is tempered with compassion for those at the clinic.
Theyre going to carry as much suffering and pain as that family will, Daniell said.
Chevy's owner said hell remember Kensley as little girl with a big personality who loved ice cream and dancing in the diner's windows along with her grandfathers band.
She made herself at home, said Daniell. She knew she was at home when she came here.
When Diamant went to the clinic looking for an explanation, he was turned away. The clinics director told him she couldnt talk about Kensleys case due to privacy laws.
Meantime, sources told Diamant that the Georgia Composite Medical Board is investigating the case after he brought it to their attention.
WSBTV
