A Tennessee hospital successfully performed surgery on an infant in December – but it was on the wrong child.
A day after Nate was born last December, doctors at the hospital requested the newborn from the nursery. His mother, Jennifer Melton, thought it was a standard exam; “checking blood-type, weight gain, that type of thing,” she recalled.
Instead, the physicians performed a “tongue-clipping” surgery intended for another baby.
“I can’t sleep, it’s like a horrible dream come to life,” Melton said. “I worry and pray that he doesn’t have any issues in the future from what they did with this unneeded procedure.”
The tongue-clipping operation is called a frenulectomy, meant to remove tissue that connects the tongue to the floor of the mouth. Melton noticed blood under Nate’s tongue when she saw him again, which led the discovery of the unnecessary procedure.
“[The pediatrician] said he was sorry for what had happened, but that Nate would be fine and that ‘he didn’t even cry that much during the surgery.’ ”
Melton still worries his speech and eating habits will be altered from the frenulectomy. She’s considering legal action against the hospital and physician.
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Photo Credit: Per-Boge/Shutterstock
