CHENNAI: A one-and-a-half-year-old boy’s right arm was amputated on Sunday after alleged medical negligence on the part of the staff of the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (RGGGH), Chennai, led to the toddler developing gangrene. The hospital, in a statement, said an enquiry committee was constituted, and the report will be submitted to the government.
According to the parents, the boy was crying in pain immediately after a staff nurse, on June 29, wrongly inserted IV cannula in the right arm. The skin around the area had turned red, the parents say, alleging that the nurse on duty “didn’t even bother to move from her chair”, when approached. The amputation was carried out at the Government Institute of Child Health, Egmore, on Sunday. Subsequently, the parents confronted the doctors, nurses and the hospital (RGGGH) management, following which police officers were deployed at the hospital.
The toddler, who was diagnosed with hydrocephalus - a neurological disorder caused by an abnormal buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain - on birth, underwent ventriculoperitoneal shunting when he was five months old. However, as the ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt placed in his body came out recently, the parents, on June 25, admitted the boy to the RGGGH to insert a new VP shunt.
However, days after the revision surgery was carried out, a staff nurse inserted an IV cannula on the boy’s right arm, following which the baby started crying in pain. “The skin around the inserted portion had turned red. I complained to the nurse on duty three times, trying to explain to her whatever went wrong with the IV line. But she ignored my words. She didn’t even move from her chair. I even took the baby in my hands to the nurse.
She didn’t even bother to check on him. Finally, after hours of pestering, she directed a junior staff to take out the IV line,” said Azeesa Abdul, the toddler’s mother. Azeesa says the tips of the toddler’s fingers had turned black, with the discolouration spreading across the arm. “I took the baby to the doctor, who suggested for a scan, on Saturday. Later, the staff tell me that the arm (right) has to be amputated to save his life,” said Azeesa.
Both Azeesa and the toddler’s father, Thasthakir Meera, had to shift base from Thondi in Ramanathapuram district to Chennai to treat the toddler for hydrocephalus. The couple eked out a living by supplying homely food to roadside shops.
The press statement by the RGGGH management said, “The child developed an acute thrombotic episode involving the right arm and despite emergency appropriate interventions, the thrombosis progressed rapidly resulting in a non-salvageable limb. An immediate surgical procedure was done today by a multi-disciplinary team of experts from to save the life of the child.”
Action if negligence confirmed, says MaSu
On the alleged medical negligence case of a one-and-a-half-year-old boy, Health Minister Ma Subramanian said an enquiry team has been formed and action will be taken if negligence is confirmed no matter who it was. Any doctor or staff nurse will not purposefully cause harm to any patients, he added. Meanwhile, Edappadi K Palaniswami said, “A one-and-a-half-year-old child who was admitted to Rajiv Gandhi Hospital in Chennai, has his arm amputated. The government should provide appropriate compensation to the family. The Chief Minister should ensure that such mistakes do not happen again in the Health Department.”