Premature baby may lose her hand

NST: KLANG: Doctors may not amputate the arm of three-week-old baby Lai Yok Shan, instead the dead part may just be left to dry up and fall off on its own.
This process may take up to two months and is expected to be less demanding on the premature baby than an amputation.
Surgeon Dr V. Pathmanathan of Selayang Hospital said based on her current condition, the tissues below her left elbow were still alive and it looked like she might not lose the arm.
"It may probably be only the wrist," he said.
He told reporters this after accompanying Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Chua Soi Lek to visit the baby at the Tengku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital here yesterday.
The baby is reported to be the victim of a botched job by a doctor at the hospital.
It is alleged that the doctor, who was trying to give her an antibiotic intravenously, inserted the needle into muscles and tissues instead of a blood vessel in the arm.
Dr Chua said the baby’s condition had improved.
He said the committee set up to investigate the case met for the first time yesterday and it had been given about three weeks to finalise its report.
The committee, headed by the Selangor health director, included paediatricians from public and private hospitals. Pandamaran state assemblyman Datuk Dr Teh Kim Poo is also in the committee.
Dr Chua said the doctor who administered the injection to the baby had been placed in a different section of the hospital.