Latest update January 31st, 2025 7:15 AM
Latest News
- Exxon deal cannot be reversed – Min. Teixeira tells National Assembly
- Norton slams govt. heavy reliance on oil fund for 2025 Budget amid declining oil prices
- 67 killed after jet hits helicopter in Washington
- Man killed after concrete slab collapsed on him
- 16-yr-old girl killed by 40-yr-old lover at Baramita
Three weeks after needle left in baby’s buttocks… It was a medical decision to leave it where it is
– Public Health Minister
Ethan Garnett
As relatives of the infant who had a needle left in his buttocks during a visit to the Fort Wellington Hospital early this month, continue to question the credibility of local health workers, the Public Health Minister, Dr. George Norton is promising that such a mishap will never be repeated.
The Minister, during an interview yesterday, said that when the incident occurred it was immediately reported to him, and a decision was made to have the health care workers (nurses) placed under more supervision to prevent similar cases.
Dr. Norton stressed that while the incident should not have happened, it is not “rocket science” for surgeons to remove a needle that was left in 11-month-old Ethan Garnett’s buttocks. He said that it was, however, a medical decision to leave the needle where it is.
“In spite of all the different hospitals and medical doctors that they (the infant’s parent) have seen, all of them (doctors) coincided with the management of this case and the management is to leave it (needle) where it is – it was a medical decision,” the Minister revealed.
He added, “You see we have got this old idea that I imagine came about from these old western films that if somebody get shoot with a gun then you have to drunk them or use whisky to dig it (bullet) out with a knife if not the patient will die.”
The Minister said that in such cases, decisions are made in the best interest of the patients. “Doctors cannot act on the desire of the relatives; doctors must follow the medical code of conduct.”
He said that if the needle is not affecting the child, then doctors will not remove it, since it is not life-threatening.
The Minister offered apologies to the infant and his parents.
“If I were the parent of that child I would have been equally curious and frustrated at the health sector.”
Meanwhile, the infant’s father, Carlos Garnett of Lot 7 Number 23 Village, West Coast Berbice said that his mother-in-law and sister had taken his son to the hospital after he developed a fever on August 08, last.
The father explained that after the child was seen by a doctor at the health institution, a nurse was instructed to administer an injection to him.
“My mother-in-law said when the nurse pulled out the syringe, there was no needle in it, and she asked the nurse what had happened and the nurse tell her that the needle fell on the ground… so my sister tell her to find it,” Garnett recounted.
He said that he was further informed that after some hesitation, the nurse called out for the doctor who then referred the infant to the New Amsterdam Hospital to have an X-ray done.
“He (the child) was admitted at that hospital for a night after the X-ray revealed that the needle was inside his buttocks, and then he was transferred to the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation,” the father explained.
He stated that another X-ray was done at the GPHC and he was informed to take the child home and return two days later.
“I did not go back to that hospital; I went to a private hospital instead, because it was a lot of waiting.”
Kaieteur News was told that at the private hospital, Garnett was informed that if the needle is removed, it can result in further injury.
The father had expressed his frustration over what he insists was the “carelessness of the nurse.”
Similar Articles
THE BLUNT OF THE DAY
Sports
Features/Columnists
Show us the numbers!
Peeping Tom… Kaieteur News- The government through its superior management of the economy says that it has bestowed... more
OAS Secretary General Election and renewed OAS Consensus
Antiguan Barbudan Ambassador to the United States, Sir Ronald Sanders By Sir Ronald Sanders Kaieteur News- The upcoming election... more
Weekend Cartoon
