Family sues hotel as 8-year-old girl dies after being “violently sucked” into swimming pool pipe
The grieving family of the 8-year-old who died last weekend after being sucked into the pool plumbing of a hotel have announced their intent to sue.
As per saddening reports, Aliyah Jaico vanished on Saturday (March 23) while swimming in the lazy river at the DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow.
The little girl’s disappearance prompted panic among her family members and a search was initiated by local authorities. Tragically, Aliyah was later discovered 20 feet deep inside the pool’s plumbing.
Lawyers representing Aliyah’s family revealed that the 8-year-old was “violently sucked into a 12 to 16-inch unsecured gap in the swimming pool flow system”. Her family is now suing the hotel for over $1m in damages.
Reports state that Daniela Jaico, Aliyah’s mother, raised the alarm upon realizing that her daughter was missing at around 4:50 p.m. She asked hotel bosses to let her check the CCTV footage, though it’s alleged that management “denied her request and explained that police would have to be present to view the video surveillance.”
Ms Jaico subsequently called the police, who examined the CCTV after arriving at the hotel. Heartbreakingly, the footage showed Aliyah being dragged under the water and failing to resurface.
In an emotional online post, Ms Jaico said: “I hope to see you again one day and you’ll keep looking at me and you’ll get that big smile that was contagious with joy. You gave yourself to love always with your heart so noble.
“I will love you for all eternity. You are the most beautiful thing god has given me and after every battle we went through together we didn’t win this one. Rest in peace my beautiful Wera. Forever you”.
A spokesperson with the Hilton, meanwhile, told Sky News: “Hilton offers our sincere condolences to the family and loved ones in the tragic loss of a young girl at the DoubleTree by Hilton Houston Brookhollow.
“This property is independently owned and operated by a third party. Hilton does not own, manage, or control the day-to-day operations of the property and does not employ any of the property’s staff or its third-party operators.”
They continued: “We understand that the property is cooperating fully with all authorities investigating the incident.”
Our thoughts are with this poor little girl’s family at this terrible time.
Denmark has two of the world’s top 30 hospitals – ranking
Denmark has two of the top 30 hospitals in the world, according to an annual ranking based on expert opinions compiled by Newsweek.com and Statista.
Leading the way was Aarhus University Hospital in 19th place with Copenhagen’s very own Rigshospitalet in 26th.
The ranking was quite extensive, assessing 2,200 hospitals in 27 countries, and 21 of them had at least one hospital in the top 150.
Denmark ended up with four, as Odense University Hospital and Aalborg Hospital did enough to be ranked 95th and 110th respectively.
Performing in the pandemic
The results, to some extent, reflect the efforts of hospitals worldwide to deal with the pandemic.
Many hospital representatives told Newsweek how COVID-19 had forced them to dig into their physical and mental reserves: “improvising on the fly” was how one put it.
“What has set the world’s leading hospitals apart is their continued ability to deliver the highest-quality patient care and conduct critical medical research even as they focused on battling COVID,” praised the ranking compilers.
“Indeed, as the fourth annual ranking of the World’s Best Hospitals by Newsweek and Statista shows, consistency in excellence is the hallmark of these institutions, with familiar names dominating the list and top spots.”
US hospitals dominate
US hospitals accounted for the top three places: Mayo Clinic – Rochester (Minnesota), The Cleveland Clinic (Ohio) and Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
In total the US had 33 hospitals in the top 150, well ahead of the second best country: Germany with 14. Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, ranked fifth, was the top hospital in Europe.
Italy and France had 10 each. AP-HP – Hôpital Universitaire Pitié Salpêtrière was France’s top hospital at seventh, while Karolinska Universitetssjukhuset in Sweden was the Nordic Region’s top performer at eighth.
Sheba Medical Center, at 10th, was the top performer outside Europe and North America, and South Korea the best performing country, with eight of the top 150.
