We on the Clinical Waste Discussion Forum concern ourselves, regularly, with the issue of needles lost in dangerous locations, discarded on the ground, into long grass or in sand, dropped into hospital laundry or into black bag waste, and of course into the thin-walled orange or yellow clinical waste sacks to injure a member of the hospital’s ancillary staff of contracted waste handlers when these are removed for disposal.

But a report in the Saudi Gazette seems to bypass all of these circumstances when staff failed even to remove the needle from the patient!

Needle left inside infant’s chest

“A nurse at a public hospital forgot a 4-centimeter-long needle inside a one-day old infant’s chest. The infant’s mother spent two weeks of her life in agony as her baby kept crying non-stop but she was unable to do anything to alleviate his pain, Al-Madinah daily reported.

“She took him to several different doctors but all failed to diagnose the problem. Desperate, she took him to a private hospital and asked them to carry out an X-ray despite knowing that it would harm the baby. To her surprise, the doctor told her a needle was lodged inside the infant’s chest.

“The infant’s parents said they did not understand how the nurse could forget a needle inside the baby’s chest. They called on the Minister of Health Dr Abdullah Al-Rabeeah to hold the nurse and others accountable, adding that they have a medical report which shows the needle in the infant’s chest.