Totally OT...a parent''s nightmare (not mine)!

[TheDiamondangel]

I just heard on the news that a hospital worker in Florida mistakenly cut off the third toe of a two-day old newborn while removing the baby''s ankle band before it left the hospital. How F***ing stupid do you have to be to cut a baby''s toe off???? We''re not talking about a little slip of the bandage scissors and the baby gets a nip...we''re talking a whole toe!

The hopsital admits the "error", and reattached the baby''s toe. They don''t know if it will take or not. I probably would have put the person who did it through a wall.

 

[Colored Gemstone Nut]

----------------
On 7/22/2003 10:31:39 PM TheDiamondangel wrote:
I just heard on the news that a hospital worker in Florida mistakenly cut off the third toe of a two-day old newborn while removing the baby's ankle band before it left the hospital. How F***ing stupid do you have to be to cut a baby's toe off???? We're not talking about a little slip of the bandage scissors and the baby gets a nip...we're talking a whole toe!

The hopsital admits the "error", and reattached the baby's toe. They don't know if it will take or not. I probably would have put the person who did it through a wall.

----------------

DiamondAngel:

Obviously this is a horrific thing which happened. One of those things that happens that everyone says shouldn't.

The fact of the matter is that the story is very humbling and gives me a perspective into the fact that we are all human....

Negligence is one thing, but the outrage of first seeing what happened maddens you but take a step back and also put yourself in the individuals shoes who did it.....

-Josh

 

[dancingmelimel]

I'm sure the nurse who did this feels super-terrible.....

I don't know if you've all heard about the 86 year old man who killed 10 people and injured about 70 when he supposedly mistook the accelorator for the brake and plowed through a farmer's market last week in Santa Monica. Assuming that he has the degree of conscience that I do, I would sure hate to be in his shoes. As truly awful as I feel for the people who lost loved ones in that tragedy, I think I would rather be one of them then be him. I think it would be easier to get over and eventually go on with life. (I hope never to know from personal experience.)

You've got to wonder though, it must take a significant amount of force on a pair of scissors to cut off a toe.... even a baby toe.

-Melissa

 

[rodentman]

Nurse probably went to the Helen Keller College of Nursing.

Frankly, when I was in the hospital with my crushed leg, I asked for a magic marker to mark which leg they were to amputate. I told them that if they took the wrong one, we'd be having the whole hour on 60 Minutes. Stranger things have happened. I almost believe that toe amputation was deliberate. That aint no accident. No way.

 

[TheDiamondangel]

I'm sure the "hospital employee" responsible for the mishap feels absolutely horrible...but how difficult is it to slip two fingers between the baby's ankle and the band, slip your bandage scissor between your two fingers and cut the band? I have two little ones of my own, and did a month-long maternity rotation at a big hospital. I know babies wiggle. That's why you take extra precautions such as cutting at the outer ankle or heel side so that if the baby moves you don't gouge delicate skin. What exactly was used to cut the band off, a hack saw??? And if I remember correctly, bandage scissors have a special tip so that if the scissors slips, the end that would hit skin is blunt. And the toe that was cut was the third toe...not the pinky toe. How the heck did the person manage to cut off a toe that has other digits on either side???

Sorry, that's just an act of negligence.

 

[TheDiamondangel]

----------------
On 7/23/2003 1:40:15 AM dancingmelimel wrote:

I'm sure the nurse who did this feels super-terrible.....

I don't know if you've all heard about the 86 year old man who killed 10 people and injured about 70 when he supposedly mistook the accelorator for the brake and plowed through a farmer's market last week in Santa Monica. Assuming that he has the degree of conscience that I do, I would sure hate to be in his shoes. As truly awful as I feel for the people who lost loved ones in that tragedy, I think I would rather be one of them then be him. I think it would be easier to get over and eventually go on with life. (I hope never to know from personal experience.)----------------

Well, I don't know if anyone else caught the blurb a few days ago or not, someone managed to get a hold of a home movie that's about 10 years old, showing his car up on a retaining wall. He looked like he could barely walk back then let alone drive, and he really had no clue how he got the car up on the wall (the entire front of the car up to the back passenger door was up on a stone retaining wall). Perhaps I'll feel differently about this when I get to be that age, but I personally think that once you reach 70-75 you should have to have an evaluation of your driving skills every other year.

 

[dancingmelimel]

----------------
On 7/23/2003 8:34:54 AM TheDiamondangel wrote:


Well, I don't know if anyone else caught the blurb a few days ago or not, someone managed to get a hold of a home movie that's about 10 years old, showing his car up on a retaining wall. He looked like he could barely walk back then let alone drive, and he really had no clue how he got the car up on the wall (the entire front of the car up to the back passenger door was up on a stone retaining wall). Perhaps I'll feel differently about this when I get to be that age, but I personally think that once you reach 70-75 you should have to have an evaluation of your driving skills every other year.
----------------

I did catch that, and I couldn't agree with you more. In fact, I'm all for a driving test every year after the age of 75. What argument can you possibly make against it? Most 75-year-olds are retired, so they have the time. I'd much rather deal with that inconvenience, or the inconvenience of having to use public transport or whatever, than deal with the immense guilt of having hurt and killed people!

-Melissa

 

[winyan]

I don't quite understand, while working with infants why usage of "safety shears" isn't mandatory. These are shears with a flat bottom, the top blade fits into the bottom so nothing can get caught between the blades, but material. First Aid Groups use them, why not hospital nurserys?

win

 

[Kamuelamom]

Ugh. I have a pit in my stomach. While I can understand the concept of putting yourself in the other person's shoes, the person who did this was the trained professional for God's sake. WADR, there's no reason for this particular "accident." It's negligence, pure and simple.

 

[ccuheartnurse]

OMG! I just read this thread. I have no mercy or empathy for that nurse. She was dumb as shit. There are bandage scissors we use to remove dressings. Besides, how fast was she doing it that she cut a freaking toe off? That nurse is fried & so will the hospital once the family gets a hold of a good lawyer. And they should take this as far as they can. I know I'm coming across like a hard ass, but this was completely preventable. Yes, a human error, & yes, I've made some in my career, but damn, I have never cut off an appendage by removing some bandages. That nurse will forever be branded now & I hope she gets some counselling cause this will follow her now.

Judy