5-day-old baby faces amputation due to medical error

A 5-day-old baby boy faces amputation of his right arm following an error by a medical doctor at the Aminu Kano Teaching Hospital (AKTH) Kano.

Daily Trust is reporting that the doctor forgot to remove a tourniquet he fixed on the boy’s hand and left on it for over 18 hours. As a result, the boy’s arm began to rot while a physiotherapist at the hospital said it had stopped functioning. The only option left was for the arm to be amputated, according to the report.

The boy’s father Umaru Shamsu, said doctors diagnosed his son with a defective

breathing, leading to his admission at the hospital.

“The doctor took his blood, but he forgot to remove the tourniquet, which prevented blood from circulating in his hand for 18 hours. According to the doctors, the device should not have been left for more than two minutes on the newborn’s hand.

“I left the hospital a few hours after he was born. His mother was also admitted. When I came back the following day, I didn’t see the baby. The nurses refused to tell me what happened. Later, they briefed me and urged us to take heart and pray.”