Hospital delivers baby but leaves the head inside - then doctor sends the mother to another hospital without saying a word

[khunPer]

3 hours ago, robsamui said:

In all of this, I am amazed that nobody has commented on either why or how the head was removed from the body of the unfortunate baby.

QUOTE: "The doctor pulled the baby out but had decapitated it in the process."
He PULLED it out.

 

Bone, muscle, cartilage, tendons, skin - just how much force does it take to do this - try pulling the head off a chicken. The story is nonsense. The only way to do it is to cut the body away.

And why would he have done that?

Isn't a that small infant pretty "soft" in bone and skin etc.?
Admit it sounds extremely weird, but in the link posted to a India news story from November 2015, it's said: »Accidental decapitations at birth are rare, with the online Journal of Neonatology Research reporting its occurrence as one in 39 million live births.«

Also in that story the head was left "inside": »A senior district health official said the baby was stillborn and that doctors, after discovering it was dead, pulled it out with equipment that inadvertently resulted in its head being severed...   ...The woman, a 35-year-old first-time mother, was later operated on to recover the severed head, he said.«

[dunroaming]

Staggering!  A new low by anyone's standards

[Sheryl]

5 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

The words suction machine were used.  Eh?  I am familiar with trouble child births, rotating the shoulders, etc.  but what is this suction machine, unless they were using abortive devices? 

 

A Vacuum Extractor, commonly used to assist delivery in difficult cases. Appropriate to getting out a retained head but not what was needed prior to that as it can't be used to deliver a breech, which is what this obviously was.

 

It does happen, when a breech is delivered vaginally, that the head gets entrapped - in fact it is one of the most serious and dreaded complications of a vaginal breech delivery on one of the reasons why, in countries with reasonably developed health systems ,it is usually preferred to deliver a breech by c-section.

 

If she presented at the hospital in enough time to do so (i.e. not with delivery already imminent), she should have been immediately referred to a higher level hospital for c-section.  Clear-cut negligence if that was not done.

 

If she arrived at the hospital already fully dilated with delivery imminent then the doctor may have had no choice but to proceed.   There are specific measures to take to deal with head entrapment when it occurs, but a young doctor with limited obstetric experience would probably never have employed or even observed them (especially in Thailand where it is normal practice to c-section all breech presentations). 

[PETERTHEEATER]

I'm curious as to why the mother, at 17 years of age, did not opt for a Caesarian delivery which seems to be the accepted method in Thailand simplifying and speeding up the procedure. I accept that this is un-natural and that some mothers want to experience natural birth. Perhaps there were religious objections to Caesarian delivery.

 

That said, if the delivering physician did decapitate the infant it should be a manslaughter charge as well as medical malpractice. Shocking!

[samuijimmy]

Thai bashing troll posts have been hidden...

[dunroaming]

The Caesarian option is not always offered in Thailand especially in the smaller less well equipped hospitals.    It is hard to believe that there isn't more to the story but I don't want to join in the speculation game. 

[Deli]

Normally the head comes out first, something wrong right from the beginning ?!?

[bangon04]

" She told daily News: "Who in hell would lie about such a thing?" "

 

seems a reasonable question in the circumstances.......

[atyclb]

4 hours ago, chilli42 said:

50% of medical professionals graduate in the bottom half of their class

 

 

FYI  theres a more than fair % of those that graduate near the top of the class (multiple choice exams) whose cavalier cowboy like conceited character causes a great deal of harm to patients.  they dont necessarily place students on the top of the class that have excellent patient clinical abilities. top of class typically ability to score high on paper(computer based in lieu of paper nowadays)

[atyclb]

it could well be an otherwise competent doctor faced with an imminently grave presentation and no time to get a c section done.

 

a decapitation breech delivery is a dreaded complication. sure that doctor was scared shitless during the attempted delivery and end result.  should have had the integrity to explain to the patient/family that it was a dreaded complication. taking time off is not a bad thing as long as it is not a mechanism to avoid responsibility.  

 

i wonder if an episiotomy was tried?  thats a quick snip on the rectal side to open up the birth canal. easier to sew it up afterwards than risk what happened.

Edited October 29, 2016 by atyclb

[mrfill]

8 hours ago, gk10002000 said:

The words suction machine were used.  Eh?  I am familiar with trouble child births, rotating the shoulders, etc.  but what is this suction machine, unless they were using abortive devices? 

 

It's called a ventouse

[SneekyPete]

This is tragic on so many levels it beggars belief. Can we not at least offer some measure of sympathy to the young mother and her family? **sigh** The authorities will do what they do regardless of whatever we may suggest or feel.

Edited October 29, 2016 by SneekyPete

[Jonmarleesco]

10 hours ago, adhd said:

and in a case like this, they cannot state the hospitals name or doctor death ?

 

 

Not if they don't want to get sued for defamation. Quite something how Thailand's malpractice laws and defamation laws work in such harmony, always to the detriment of the customer.

 

One of these days, the Thais will wake up, smell the roses, and decide enough is enough. Then things will change. Until then ... 

[teacherpaul]

10 hours ago, ChoakMyDee said:

 

You don't need to sign every post "JAF". This is a web forum, not an email client. Welcome to the internet. Glad I could help you. 

Off topic. Stick to the point.

[KKr]

Cowboys !!!
Disgusting incompetence.
Makes one wonder how many hours "Doc" attended Classes at Medical School and how "Doc" got the Certificate to Practice.

Sorry, not Cowboys. 
Cowboys would have done a much better job !

[Johpa]

13 hours ago, JustAnotherFarang said:

Baby loses its head and the doctor and the hospital are more concerned about losing face.  This is the way Thailand culture is and they are exceedingly proud about it irregardless of whatever we think. 

 

Alas this is indeed a rather extreme, and very tragic, case of what you call Thainess, or what the Thais call "kwam pen khon Thai", where saving face is of the highest social priority , and accepting the "face" presented is also a social prerequisite, especially if the "face" presented is coming from someone of a higher social status.

[katana]

Looking on Google, it's not just specific to Thailand where this has happened.

[6thST]

On 10/29/2016 at 7:56 AM, JustAnotherFarang said:

Baby loses its head and the doctor and the hospital are more concerned about losing face.  This is the way Thailand culture is and they are exceedingly proud about it irregardless of whatever we think.  The doctor should be blacklisted and struck off, not just for the mistake of decapitating the baby but for their own sheer arrogance and shameful neglect to take any responsibility for their actions.

 

JAF 

This Dr.needs to charged with man slaughter....:p

 

[timber]

Well there should be compensation, and the doctor lose his license.  How experienced was the doctor?  Thailand has good doctors, but hospital may cover for poor ones.

[Sheryl]

As some of us have tried to explain, this is not an unknown complocation of vaginal breech deliveries (and a reason why in countries with reasonable standard surgical services it is usual to perform c-section on breech deliveries).

There may have been malpractice but there also may not have been -- cannot be assumed based on the information provided.

Key issue would be how advanced her labor was on arrival at the hospital and whether the staff promptly ascertained the baby's position.

If she arrived in enough time to be transferred to a hospital with surgical capacity, then indeed there was negligence... either they knowingly opted to keep a breech birth there and attempt vagibal delivery despite not having surgical back-up (and likely also not having obstetricians experienced in high risk deliveries) OR they failed to ascertain the baby's position, which is definitely negligence abd quite likely on the part of the nurses.

If on the other hand she arrived at the hospital too far advanced in labor to be transferred, they had no choice but to attempt to deliver vaginally. Head entrapment occurred, not their fault and not preventable. To be unsuccessful in delivering an entrapped head and to sever it in the process is not necessarily a reflection on the doctor who quite likely had never faced such a situation before.

Should add that with head entrapment, even if decapitation is averted, odds are against delivering the baby alive. The umbilical cord gets tightly compressed cutting off blood flow to the baby.

[captspectre]

gone on leave? read that as getting out of dodge for a month and than practice as usual!

[ChoakMyDee]

Thanks, never thought about it
 
JAF :-)

Thanks for accepting it graciously. I was afraid I'd upset you.

All the best.

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