Orlando Baby's Toe Accidentally Cut Off By Nurse, Family Says
From The Associated Press
Published: Jul 22, 2003
ORLANDO - A hospital worker accidentally cut off a newborn baby's little toe while trying to remove an ankle identification tag, the infant's family said.
The baby girl, Amirona Simmons, was about to be discharged from Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children & Women Monday when a hospital worker told her mother, Sheketa Simmons, that the baby's toe had been ``nipped.'' The baby was delivered over the weekend.
"She said she nipped her pinky toe and when I looked her toe was cut all the way off,'' Sheketa Simmons told WFTV in Orlando.
Doctors at another hospital reattached the toe and were waiting to see if it healed properly, family members said.
Joe Brown, a spokesman at Arnold Palmer Hospital, didn't return a phone call Tuesday morning.
We cut the bands off ourselves because we put one on the chart to help verify that the right mom took home the right baby...seems unfair to expect the parents to do it. They probably aren't used to working with squirmy infants as much as we are. Give it a few months and someone will invent a tiny little bandage type scissor specifically designed for removing infant ID bands... I always slip my finger under the band and cut right along my finger...also use bandage scissors...one of our nurses has one of those little letter opener things that she always uses.
What's up with FL cutting the wrong things off??? How horrible for the baby. I worked at a hospital in FL that when the Dr. did a circumcision cut the entire member off!!!! Can you imagine that??? How awful, I don't know if the reattatchment was successful since they flew the baby out and of course no one ever heard another word.
This is not a normal Florida occurance. It is a very bad move on the part of that individualand unfortunately could happen anywhere. My son was in the NICU at Arnold Palmer, believe me guys, this is a top notch hospital. For them to release this child is odd....that's why I think there has to be more to the story. Who knows really! Good lord Bad bird, what was that doc thinkin? Ouch!
CseMgr1, ASN, RN
1,287 Posts
A few months ago we had a peds surg resident walk into a mom's room and tie and snip off a baby's extra digits, just like that! Idiot.