Negligent nurse slices little finger of infant in Kolkata
POSTED March 21, 2010 - 16:15 | POSTED BY Neharika Sabharwal
Last edited by Harpreet Bhagrath on March 21, 2010 - 16:50
The accident occurred when the nurse was trying to remove the tapes attached to the intravenous drip channel and accidently snipped off a small portion of the girl’s little finger on her right hand.
The baby had to be given blood after the incident.
Authorities at Institute stated the nurse had "unwittingly applied the scissors on the little finger of the baby's right hand while removing the plaster on the channel areas meant for saline administration."
Infant hospitalized with respiratory complications
The parents of the little girl, Babu Ghosal and Paromita, had admitted the child at the Institute on March 6 following instruction from the family physician.
The child was under medical intervention after developing breathing complications soon after she was born on Feb. 21.
Dr Maya Mukherjee, head of the institute's pediatrics department, said the nurse had confessed to the incident and had also apologized.
Although the negligent nurse is repentant and is likely to be fired, it does not undo the harm done.
Mukherjee added, “The nurse has tendered an apology. An inquiry would be conducted into the incident. But we will issue a show cause notice and she will be placed under suspension. A committee will look into the matter.”
Hospital authorities fail to inform family
To make matters worse, the hospital authorities failed to inform Nandita Das, the aunt of the baby girl who was watching over the child at night.
Das found out about the negligent act from random people at the institute at around 8 a.m. on Friday.
To add to their woes, Babu revealed, “The hospital authorities told us that to operate upon my daughter and reattach her finger she would have to be kept unconscious for over six hours, which could be detrimental to her.
"They tried to make us sign a bond saying that the hospital is not responsible for whatever happened.”
Nurse busy on her cell while on duty
According to witnesses, the nurse was engrossed in a conversation with her boyfriend on the cell phone when the accident happened.
However, the initial enquiry conducted so far by the hospital was not able to establish the fact.
“Our doctors and nurses are not allowed to speak on cellphones inside the wards while attending to babies,” said Apurba Ghosh, director of the Institute of Child Health.
The family members of the child registered a complaint of negligence with Karaya police station on Friday night against the hospital authorities.
