Mumbai: Clinic forgets needle in two-day-old baby's bottom

The baby would cry when his mum massaged his bottom

Like all responsible parents, Aastha Pashte, 28, took her two-day-old baby to a clinic for vaccinations, never imagining that the life-saving injections could turn life-threatening. It was only three weeks later, when the infant developed a mysterious fever, that Aastha discovered that the clinic had forgotten a 2-cm needle inside her child's bottom.

It took a two-hour surgery to remove the foreign body at the Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital for Children. Once the child is discharged, the family is planning to sue the clinic that forgot the needle.

X-ray shows the needle dangerously close to the hip joint

Scans show needle
The baby boy, who is Aastha's first child, was born in perfect health on June 17. A couple of days later, the Chembur resident's family took the child to a local clinic for vaccination. Everything was normal until the 21st day after birth, when the infant became feverish. "When we took him to a private doctor, she thought it was the flu and prescribed some medicines. But when the baby didn't show any relief, we took him to Wadia hospital, where we were shocked to learn that there was a needle inside his buttock. Suddenly we realised why he cried every time we massaged oil on his buttocks," recalled Aastha, while talking to mid-day from the NICU.

Dr Minnie B

At first, the baby was diagnosed with osteomyelitis, an infection of the bone. But X-rays and CT scan showed a persistent shadow, indicating a foreign body. The parents then realised that it was the vaccination needle still stuck in their child's bottom, almost deep enough to graze the hip joint. On July 10, a surgery was performed to remove the needle. The baby is now stable and recovering in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) at Wadia hospital.

Rare case
This was a first-of-its-kind case for the hospital. Dr Pradnya Bendre, paediatric surgeon at Bai Jerbai Wadia Hospital, Parel, said, "The baby was taken for intra-operative surgery for removal of the foreign body. It was difficult to find the exact location; hence, multiple X-rays were taken. It took two hours to remove the needle under C-arm guidance localisations. The 2-cm needle was found embedded in the capsule of the left hip joint and the baby has recovered uneventfully without any complications."

"The needle had gone deep inside, and it was extremely challenging to perform the surgery on a newborn without making a big incision. Thankfully, the child was diagnosed without much delay. We want to highlight the issue so that such a blunder is not repeated in the future," said Dr Minnie Bodhanwala CEO Wadia Hospitals.

Also read: Mumbai: 1-month-old baby has narrow escape as maternity ward ceiling crumbles

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