Looking back: Toddler's heart stops beating for 14 minutes during tonsillectomy in 1966

IDAHO FALLS -- EastIdahoNews.com is looking back at what life was like during the week of Oct. 20 to Oct. 26 in east Idaho history.

1926-1950

SHELLEY -- A stray bullet struck a boy at Shelley's Spud Day celebration, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Oct. 20, 1932.

Gilbert Fowler, of Woodville, who authorities said was 12 or 14 years old, suffered a bullet wound in his hip. The incident happened while he was watching a horse pulling event.

Fowler had climbed up on a sign board to get a better view of the horse pulling contest. This is when a bullet, described as a "wild shot" from the shooting gallery, went through the sign the boy was on and entered his hip.

The shooting gallery was located in front of the lot where the horse event was going on. Shelley authorities said the shot must have been "very high" as the back stop on the shooting gallery was adequate to stop the bullets.

The boy was taken to a hospital in Idaho Falls. His condition was listed as "not serious." The gallery closed until after the horse contest was finished.

1951-1975

BLACKFOOT -- A 3 1/2-year-old Blackfoot boy was in the hospital for a tonsillectomy when his heart stopped beating for 14 minutes, the Idaho Falls Post Register reported on Oct. 20, 1966.

Layne Tanner, son of Mr. and Mrs. David Tanner, was at Bingham Memorial Hospital when the incident happened. It was while he was receiving the anesthetic and being prepared for the surgery that the anesthetist realized the boy's heart had stopped.

"For 14 tense minutes, a team of doctors and surgical nurses kept blood circulating while first attempting to restart the heart by external massage," the paper wrote.

The decision was then made to open the chest cavity for "direct massage." Within four minutes, an incision was made and the direct massaging of the heart started it beating again.

"Other doctors had come to the aid of the operating team and it was fortunate that Dr. Dean Packer was there to perform the operation," the article reads.

While the intense moment was going on in the operating room, Tanner's parents were in another room in the hospital with two other children -- Kathy, six years old, and Steven, almost five years old -- who were waiting to undergo tonsillectomies as well once Tanner came out.

All three children had their operations postponed and another time for their surgeries had not been scheduled at the time the article was published.

The doctors felt sure that the external massages that were performed helped the blood effectively circulate during the stoppage. All indications at the time were that Layne would "be normal."

"His reactions are good and there is no evidence of brain damage," the article states. "He was retained in the hospital for five days and at this time, he is perfectly normal with the exception he is a little tired."

The doctors said the cardiac arrest was probably caused by a reaction to the drugs or lack of oxygen. They said his recovery was "most fortunate and dramatic." Tanner's parents said they also felt "it was truly a miracle."

Bingham Memorial Hospital officials said this was the first time during the hospital's history that a case of "heart stoppage" had ever taken place.

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