A shocking case of medical negligence has come to light in Kerala where a 4 years old girl was supposed to get her sixth finger removed through surgery but the doctor operated on her tongue.
The incident took place in Kozhikode Medical College in Kerala and the doctor was suspended after the incident. Veena George, the state health minister, suspended Associate Professor Dr Bijon Johnson after she received a report from the Director of Medical Education and the family has also filed a police complaint in this regard.
The family members stated that they were shocked to see cotton stuffed in the girl’s mouth and her sixth finger was also in her hand and when they told the nurse about the error, she mocked them. At first, the family members were told that there was a cyst in the tongue which was noticed by the doctor when the girl cried so he removed it but later on, the family members got to know that the mistake happened because there were two surgeries scheduled on the same day.
However when the matter was raised with the authorities, a meeting took place between the hospital authorities and the family members and the doctor not only apologized but an operation was also carried out to remove the girl’s sixth finger as well.
While it is being considered a case of medical negligence by the family members, there are few associations of the medical field which are defending the doctor by saying that he carried out the operation as he saw that the girl was suffering from the problem of tongue tie which might not have been noticed by the parents. The associations are saying that suspension of the doctor was wrong as the girl might have faced problem of speech impairment in the future but the family members are quite firm on their statement as per which the girl had no problem in her tongue.
A proper investigation should be carried out in this regard and truth should come out.
