This is a guest post from Elizabeth at RockAByeParents.com
Imagine you’re a first time mom with a three month old little girl. You’re little girl gets very sick and spikes such a high fever that you have to go to the hospital. After a couple days the fever comes down and you breathe a sigh of relief because your precious little girl is going to be alright and you can go home. Things turn tragically wrong though and you go into complete shock when you see part of your little girl’s finger being cut off.
Sadly that is exactly what happened to Veronica Olguin last October. She took her three month old daughter Selena to Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center due to a high fever. When they had been cleared to go home the nurse went to cut off the IV and ended up cutting off part of Selena’s left pinky finger. They were able to find the missing part of the finger and airlifted Selena to Tampa General Hospital where Veronica was told that the nerves in Selena’s finger were so small that they couldn’t reattach it.
Veronica watched as her daughter lost part of her finger. She is still having nightmares from it, and she fears for what her daughter will have to go through when she’s older due to the loss of part of her finger. She is now suing the hospital for malpractice.
I’m shocked that such a thing could occur. Hours after first reading the article I still cannot understand how a nurse can go to cut some tape, and instead cuts off half a finger. Those had to be some strong and sharp scissors, and that nurse had to not be paying any attention to what she was doing. My heart truly goes out to the mother because I can’t imagine what she’s going through having watched the whole scene unfold. I think it would be hard for any mother to see someone hurt her child and not want to do bodily harm. To me the scariest part is that the hospital has allowed the nurse to return to work, although they won’t comment on whether or not she is working with patients.
Every day people put their lives, and the lives of their loved one, into the hands of trained medical professionals. Working in the medical field has to be a difficult job, but we have to know that those people will do their best to take care of us. If we can trust them than whom can we trust?
How would you feel if you were that mother?Here's the news story in case you want to read.
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Comments (42)
That is not ok, and I hate to say I would sue because no amount of money will undo what has been done. But I would put it all over the internet.
Bad press will hurt the hospital more than a lawsuit.
Names. Everything. I'd be on the news.
And I know everyone makes mistakes, hell I worked in healthcare for over 10 years and every freaking day I started and closed multiple iv sites. NEVER WITH SCISSORS. What the hell???
I'm also curious why they couldn't reattach her finger seeing as they were IN a hospital?
@sarahsmurfette@xanga - Haha i'm replying to myself. They couldn't reattach the rest of her finger because the nerves and blood vessels were too small. In case y'all wondered too.
And by the way? The nurse ran from the room screaming? Wow. What a professional. Her ass needs firing.
Sad and incomprehensible. If I was the manager of that hospital I would fire that nurse. How could they have let her return to work? It's like they forgave her for any wrongdoing. I hope the mom is successful in winning the damages caused by that nurse. I hope the nurse is seriously ashamed and disappointed in herself.
I'd sue the hospital and make sure the story got out. Luckily, the little girl is so young that she won't remember it and will grow up learning how to use that hand with that part of her finger missing, which is much better than if she was older and had to re-learn how to use the hand with that part of the finger missing.
wow that is awful. It is scary to see that such things can happen. Not to sound cruel here, but luckily it was just a finger, and not a mistake that killed someone.
Wow that would piss me off. I would be furious. That nurse would have to run for her life, because I'd be on her ass like white on rice.
What kind of MORON does that sort of thing? I hope that woman never works in the medical field again for the rest of her life. Effing idiot.
@under_the_carpet@xanga - Very true. "Medical error" causes more deaths than car accidents every year. I hope to be a nurse one day and stories like this remind me to be just as careful as a surgeon.
I think I feel worst for the mother, because she is most likely the most traumatized by the event.
I feel a bit of sympathy for the nurse too...but no excuse for that kind of thing. Still, I would rather my finger be cut off than live with the guilt of having done that to a little kid.
That is terrible. I'm glad though that it wasnt a thumb.
Oh my gosh. How can you cut through a finger. First of all, why aren't you carefully looking!!! Especially if it is a three month old. She should have had her eyes on the scissors at all times. She definitely should not be working with patients or in any medical field every again.
I would sue the hospital and the individual. -.-
I would have caused the same bodily harm to that nurse! WTF?!
aww poor baby. That is sad!!! I hope she'll be okay. :(
As for the nurse-- dang that is one depressing mistake. People need to watch it when what they are doing becomes too routine. That's when a lot of mistakes happen... This goes for other things too like driving. You don't pay as much attention because your sorta on autopilot and you do something atrocious like cutting off a poor baby's finger.@landers_mommy0520 - If you watch the clip, the nurse is still working there.
That nurse should be fired. There is no excuse for what she did. I've had many IVs and none of them were ever finished off with scissors. And this is a three month old baby! You have to be even more careful with a small one compared to an adult. Especially if you're using scissors.
Nurses are horribly over-worked and sleep-deprived these days. There's a massive nursing shortage in this country.... but hospitals simply aren't hiring any more nurses despite the fact that there are hundreds of thousands of nursing school graduates looking for work currently. There is simply no room in hospital budgets to hire new nurses, so they just work the current ones they have like dogs, forcing them to work six days a week 14 hours a day. Because of this mistakes like the little girl's finger occur. It's like the pilot meltdown on JetBlue... when companies try to save money by instituting hiring freezes while working the current employees like dogs- bad, bad situations occur.... especially in area of employment where employees are responsible for high-risk tasks like nursing and airline pilots.
I can't figure out for the life of me why the nurse was using scissors to begin with. When we start IVs or remove IVs we usually use a brand of tape that tears easily (Transpore). I've been a nurse for nearly 25 years, worked when I've been incredibly sleep deprived, and still managed to always be careful - even during emergency situations. You check, you double check, you triple check. You always make patient safety a priority.
Hate to say it but not all nurses are made of the same "stuff". There are some shitty nurses out there. My heart goes out to the mother. That's horrifying.
It's horrifying for the mother. The baby will be okay. But, seriously, the nurse will live with this for the rest of her life too. "Running screaming from the room" isn't very professional, but it would be a natural response when you realize you've just hurt a baby. Very likely that she's a mother too. And trying to provide for her kids. So it might be good if she can still work? There are professions where there is no room for mistakes. But it still happens. And this woman needs some compassion. If it were my baby? I wouldn't go to that hospital again.
What a terrible mistake :[ It sounds like this nurse was either inexperienced in general or with babies - therefore shouldn't have been working that floor OR she was overworked & tired & used scissors as a 'quick' fix [i.e she couldn't find the proper tools etc.] I don't mean to sound crude, but it probably wouldn't take much force [I would imagine] to cut a baby's finger off.. the skin & bone & everything is just so delicate.
I am, however a bit surprised & unsure of the fact they allowed this woman back to work..if she's over stressed/tired that she made such a mistake - she needs a good long vacation. The next time something like that happens..[god forbid] the patient may not be so lucky. I am compassionate towards the woman, it sounds like she honestly didn't mean to do this - but the fact of the matter is - she did. a little patient in her care was harmed. The hospital should not have allowed this woman back to work there..I mean, what are they going to do if this happens again? The entire place would be under fire! I wish a speedy recovery towards this little girl & I hope the mother is okay too.
How did they lose the part they cut off? =\ Hospital rooms are only so big..
@mle26@xanga - Exactly! When you are in training or new at something, you are more scared than ever that you'll make a mistake, but it's when you STOP being scared that you actually do make a mistake.
Like you said, driving. I was a flawless driver, then one morning I went to pull out of my neighborhood without thinking too much of it, and I pulled out right in front of someone and got hit.
But nursing? I can't imagine ever working in the medical field and being on "auto pilot", it's scary to think that people do that.
@misslei11@xanga - They did not lose the finger, they just were unable to reattach it because the nerves and blood vessels were so tiny.
This is just horrible :/
First of all, being a nurse, you don't cut off an I.V. You gently pull it out. Secondly, take some legal action and buy a new house.
I don't normally believe in suing, but this time it is justified! Total incompetence!
@CandiedLilac@xanga - Oooh I read it wrong, for some reason I thought it said they weren't able to find the missing part.