My Fox, from Tampa Bay Fl., has reported that the mother of a child that lost part of her finger due to a nurse’s mistake, has filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the Heart of Florida Regional Medical Center.
In October 2011 V.O. brought her infant daughter, S.O., to the hospital due to the child having a high fever. S.O. was hospitalized for three days. On the day of her release, a nurse had the task of removing an IV that was attached by tape to the child’s finger. Using a pair of scissors, she cut through the child’s finger as well.
V.O., who was holding her daughter at the time, described the event: “They were taking her IV off with scissors and she obviously wasn't looking where she was cutting, so she cut off her finger. I realized it because there was blood everywhere. It was all over her shirt, it was on my shirt. It was on my face. I held her face close to my chest. She was red, she was screaming.”
The pinky finger of S.O.’s left hand proved to be cut off at about the halfway mark.
Tampa-based attorney Lou Pendras is representing S.O. in the lawsuit. Pendras stated that both the nurse and the hospital acted negligently. He said, “The nurse threw the scissors used to sever the pinky in a panic. She rushed out of the room, screaming and that's when the doctors rushed back into the room.”
The finger was located on the floor of the hospital room and it was airlifted, along with S.O., to Tampa General Hospital. The idea, of reattaching the finger, was found to be an impossible task as the nerves and veins were too small.
V.O. claims that she has been experiencing nightmares, and her daughter wakes up crying, ever since the traumatic event. V.O. said, “I saw everything. And it's really hard what I went through. And I can't imagine what she went through.”
Pendras claims that he had a receptive conversation with the hospital, but that was only in the beginning. He said, “They responded, saying they were interested in getting together and seeing exactly what can be done. And that was the end of it. Unfortunately, they haven't returned any other phone calls.”
Pendras states that the felt that he had no other recourse other than filing the lawsuit for his client.
Richards Ford, representing the hospital, wrote in a statement, “An unfortunate accident occurred at our hospital while an experienced nurse was removing bandages from the tip of a child's finger. We rushed the child to a hand specialist, but unfortunately the tip of the finger could not be reattached…We reached out right away to the child's family and their attorney, but have not been able to reach a mutually agreeable resolution...”
V.O. is concerned for her daughter and what her future will hold. Her current worries center on school in general, sports, and how other children will treat her. V.O. said, “It's really hard that she, she was born so perfect. And they just, they just cut off her finger.”
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