User:Red7world/sandbox

='Botched' finger surgery claims youth's Army dream = TNN Feb 14, 2010, 06.47am IST:

KOLKATA: Before he set out from home in Birbhum's Nalhati, Lal Mahammad told his parents he would be out of hospital in a jiffy and aim straight for the Army trials. For this 19-year-old, donning the olive green was the ultimate dream. But there was what appeared to be a 'minor' obstacle — his right index finger was bent, a condition medically termed 'trigger finger', and needed to be fixed before he could compete for his piece of the fatigues. But today, after almost three weeks of uncertainty and a surgery allegedly botched up by doctors, a tearful Lal says his army dreams, like his amputated finger, are lost forever.

Lal, a first-year student of Birla Science College, admitted himself to SSKM Hospital on January 23 and was operated upon five days later, on January 28. Doctors are believed to have done a cosmetic surgery to straighten the finger. But, fearing an infection, they opted for a second surgery on February 1, during which the fingers on the right hand were grafted into the skin of the stomach to keep them sterile. On February 11, when Lal was wheeled to the OT once again, his family said the doctors suddenly fished out a bond — which is normally signed before a critical surgery — and forced them to sign it. That was when the doctors purportedly told them that Lal's finger had been amputated. At present, his fingers are still grafted in his stomach, but Lal says he can feel his loss, though he can't see it. "I can feel my right index finger missing; my dream of joining the Indian Army is shattered," the youth told TOI on Saturday from bed No. 30 at SSKM's plastic surgery department. His father, Meher Ali, is furious that the alleged amputation was carried out without permission. Even the clauses in the bond, he says, weren't explained to him. "We could have sought a second opinion," he said. The family has lodged a complaint with SSKM superintendent Debashish Bhattacharya, alleging doctors at the plastic surgery department cut off Lal's finger when they were supposed to cure it. The hospital initially denied the youth's finger had been amputated. "Plastic surgery department doctors told me they had only removed a few infected arteries from Lal's finger," Bhattacharya said. But a committee was subsequently set up to investigate the allegations. "If doctors who operated on the youth are found guilty by the committee, we will launch proceedings against them," Bhattacharya said. Lal's attending doctor, A Sarkar, has been asked to stop supervising his treatment. Lal is now directly under the charge of the plastic surgery department head. Lal's father is convinced of foul play. "They (the hospital) are now trying to defend themselves. If their claim is true, why did doctors force us to sign a bond on Thursday and tell us his finger had been amputated?" he asks. Lal's trigger finger was caused by an 'electric burn artery' which, his father says, resulted from an old injury. Anupam Gholash, a renowned city-based plastic surgeon, told TOI on Saturday when an electric burn artery is straightened during surgery, there are possibilities of damage to the bone. "Stomach grafting is done to allow the bone to develop. In some cases, a gangrene may lead to amputation. But a patient has to be told of the pros and cons before surgery. There are occasions, in complicated cases, when a doctor has to take a critical decision in the OT. Bonds, in such cases, may be signed later, but this (Lal's surgery) doesn't seem to be that kind of a case," he told TOI.