Baby’s fingertip severed by nursing assistant at Yasothon hospital
A toddler’s fingertip was severed at a Yasothon hospital while a nursing assistant was removing gauze around an IV line on September 11, forcing the boy to undergo surgery to reattach the finger.
The incident happened at Somdet Phra Yuppharat Loeng Nok Tha Hospital in Loeng Nok Tha district.
The boy’s father said his one year old son had been admitted to the hospital on September 1 and had recovered enough to be discharged on the morning of the incident.
While the father carried their belongings to the car, the boy’s mother waited with him at the bed for staff to remove the gauze securing his IV.
According to the father, a nursing assistant approached with scissors and cotton before inserting the scissors near the boy’s right index finger to cut away the gauze.
The scissors then severed the fingertip of the child in a single cut.
The father said he returned to find his son bleeding heavily on the bed and was so shocked he nearly collapsed.
Hospital staff stopped the bleeding and transferred the boy to Sapphasitthiprasong Hospital in Ubon Ratchathani for emergency treatment.
The child came out of surgery at around 1am on September 12 after doctors successfully reattached the fingertip.
His father said doctors could not yet determine whether the finger would regain normal function and that the family would have to wait and monitor his recovery.
The boy was crying, sleeping poorly and struggling to eat because of the pain. His father also said the boy was having difficulty breathing, possibly related to respiratory support used during the operation.
Hospital representatives later visited the family with a gift basket and 4,000 baht in cash as initial assistance with expenses.
The father said he remained shocked and unsure what to do next but had already filed an official record of the incident with police.
A senior Yasothon public health official said doctors would need about a week to assess whether the nerves, muscles, blood vessels and other tissue had successfully reconnected.
The priority for now was the child’s treatment and recovery, the official said, adding that further assistance and compensation should follow.
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