Posted on 02/07/2006 6:08:21 PM PST by beaversmom
A THREE-DAY-OLD baby had his foot burned after a blundering nurse held it in scalding water for three minutes.
Ben Freeman screamed in agony as the nurse kept his foot in a container of boiling water.
He was trying to soften the tot's foot for a blood test.
But he had failed to check the temperature of the water.
And he didn't realise the baby's foot was being scalded because he was wearing gloves.
Ben's foot was red raw and the skin was peeling off. Yet the nurse didn't treat the horrific burn.
Instead, he injected the baby's other foot to take a blood sample.
Ben's mum Samantha Freeman, 34, said last night: "We are absolutely disgusted.
"We put our baby's life in the hands of this hospital and put our complete trust in the staff.
"I think he should be banned from working with any babies."
Ben was born by Caesarean section at Forth Park Maternity hospital in Kirkcaldy on November 29 last year.
First-time mum Samantha, of Kirkcaldy, said: "He wasn't breathing when he was born and he had jaundice.
"Because he was so little they gave him a blood test every day to make sure he was being given the right level of antibiotics.
"And the heel is the best place to give a baby an injection."
When Ben was three days old, a male nurse took him away for a blood test. Minutes later, he ran into Samantha's ward in a panic and told her to follow him.
She said: "Ben was lying on a mat on a table and all I could see was his foot, which was bright red and the skin was peeling off.
"I was in complete shock. The nurse was frantic and kept saying, 'It's a disaster, make an official complaint against me'.
"He told us that he had just rubbed Ben's foot too hard. That turned out to be a lie.
"He didn't even treat Ben's burned foot."
Horrified Samantha and husband Chris, 44, took their baby back into the main ward. Samantha added: "Ben was in agony and screamed every time anything touched his foot."
It was two hours before staff dressed the baby's wound.
Ben was released from hospital three days later.
Samantha said: "Luckily there is no permanent scarring."
But the couple were shocked when the hospital failed to contact them to apologise.
Eventually, Chris contacted them and was asked to come in.
Samantha said: "They apologised and told Chris for the first time what happened.
"We then received a written apology signed by the nurse that said he had held Ben's foot in scalding water for three minutes."
The furious couple are planning legal action against the hospital.
Samantha said: "Little Ben could have been scarred for life.
"I think it's shocking that this man is still working."
An NHS Fife spokeswoman said: "We are unable to comment publicly on individual cases.
"The matter is also the subject of a legal investigation."
I would have held the nurse's face in scalding water for 3 minutes
And may you win and win BIG. This is disgusting. I HOPE this freak doesn't get anywhere NEAR anyone else...
Hey, at least she didn't have to pay for it, right?
Still, my mom always said, you get what you pay for, and if you pay cheap, you get cheap.
Yep.
Oh. My. God.
Never Never leave your infant in the care of anyone. We have 4 and either I was there or Mom was there with the baby.
This story is too terrible to believe. Sounds like the baby's foot was cooked in boiling water.
Some people really do need a severe horse-whipping.
That nurse would learn a very painful(and depending on my mood, potentially terminal) lesson if the child was mine.
No one hurts a mamber of my family and walks away.
They don't hurt mEmbers either...
Doubtful considering S.S. by itself is about to bankrupt the U.S.
It wouldn't have been his FACE I'd have teabagged into the boiling water.
That part would have been removed before making face soup
Free health care! You get what you pay for.
How can someone not realize that water is boiling(steam,the roiling turbulence).
This is either terribly inaccurate or it is a case of deliberate abuse.
And he couldn't tell from the baby's reaction that the water was boiling hot. You would know from the baby's screams that something was up. Also, what kind of gloves was he wearing that he couldn't feel that the water was extremely hot--ones made out of asbestos?!?
That's what I'm thinking - something is really missing here. There's no way you can not notice something is wrong when you are holding a baby in those circumstances for that long. Even if the water wasn't bubbling, the heat shold have been obvious, especially after the baby reacted. What kind of gloves was he wearing? And how much softer does a baby's foot need to be, anyway?
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