A Father Brought His 6-Year-Old Son to the Hospital to Be Treated for the Flu, but Tragedy Struck in the Waiting Room

A Kentucky family faced unbearable tragedy just before Christmas when their 6-year-old son, Michael Gualpalla, died in the waiting room of a hospital.

Michael had asthma and the flu, and his father, Jose, took him to the hospital on Dec. 20. The boy had developed a cough two days earlier, and his symptoms had worsened. Jose told WCPO-TV that his son began shaking and vomiting during their lengthy wait in the hospital's waiting room.

Jose said he eventually began screaming to get attention for his son, but it was too late. His son died in his arms at St. Elizabeth Hospital in Florence on Dec. 20.

Jose Guallpa says his son died of the flu in the waiting room of the hospital on Dec. 20, 2014. (Photo via WCPO-TV)

"I still can't digest this. It's just a bad dream," Zara Jimbo, Michael's mother, said. "He was my baby. He was an angel. He was happy."

Michael loved to read and knew everything there was to know about animals, his father said. He once stopped him from killing a snake by yelling, "It's just a garter snake, Dad!"

"I don't know what else to say about him," Jose said.  "He was just a good son."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say the flu has reached "epidemic" levels, with 15 children dying across the United States this season.

WKYT-TV has more on the tragic story: