Hospital nurse cuts off newborn's finger instead of umbilical cord during delivery — here's what happened

A hospital nurse's grave mistake made a newborn almost lose his finger moments after birth. The boy born on the morning of Christmas faced a major health scare when a midwife severed the newborn baby’s finger while trying to cut off his umbilical cord during caesarean delivery. This incident happened in Xuyi County People’s Hospital located in Jiangsu province of eastern China, the Red Star News reported.

Despite sharing his birth date with the festivities of birth of Jesus Christ, 25 December proved to be a tragic day of his life. It was two hours after birth that the boy's father was informed about the mishap.

For the severed left middle finger, the boy had to undergo a surgery for realignment which was possible only after two hospital transfers the same day. The boy was rushed to Wuxi No 9 People’s Hospital, a major health centre situated nearly 300 kilometres away where he underwent a finger implantation operation. The surgeons discovered that the boy's tendon was severed, but the baby was too young for nerves to be reconnected.

As per the accused nurse's statement, she accidentally made the mistake because the infant suddenly moved his fingers when she was cutting the umbilical cord. Xuyi County’s Health Commission on January 5 released a statement declaring that it was the midwife’s “serious error” that caused the infant’s finger to be “partly cut off."

According to authorities, the implantation surgery was successful and the child was transferred back to the Xuyi Hospital for rehabilitation. The hospital took full responsibility of the baby’s future treatment and suspended the nurse for negligence.

According to baby’s father Sheng, the boy endured overwhelming pain and continues to suffer because a steel needle was implanted inside his finger during the surgical procedure. As per the report, the Xuyi hospital offered the family CNY 100,000 ( ₹12.95 lakh) in a one-off cash compensation payment.

“To this day, the hospital still hasn’t clearly explained what exactly happened in the delivery room, or why such a simple procedure as cutting the umbilical cord could result in my baby’s finger being cut off,” South China Morning Post quoted the child's father as saying.

He further noted, “We don’t know how much future treatment and rehabilitation will cost, but I’m certain that CNY 100,000 is not enough.”

Sharing an update on January 6 about the child's condition, Sheng said, “My baby’s finger is not swollen any longer. We will watch closely how his condition develops." Ultimately, the two parties arrived at an agreement on compensation, the details of which were not disclosed.