Hospital gives asthma treatment to baby with chicken bone stuck in throat

Jang, 43, a senior official at a company in Changwon, South Gyeongsang Province, took his one-year-old daughter to a general hospital in the city in October 2011, when the baby cried hard and showed excessive excretion of phlegm. The doctor prescribed drug for removing phlegm and antibiotics for her, saying “It seems to be symptoms of bronchitis or asthma.” The hospital took X-rays of her neck several times. Taking inpatient and outpatient service, she received treatment for nearly 19 months but the symptoms showed no signs of improvement.

After the doctor in charge collapsed and died last month, another doctor who took over the treatment viewed her computer tomography images and said, “Something seems to be stuck in her throat,” recommending a surgery. Jang took his daughter to a university hospital in Busan and got her undergo surgery. The alien substance was a centimeter-long chicken born. The daughter apparently had swallowed a chicken bone into her mouth when her parents were not paying attention.

Jang recently filed a lawsuit seeking damage worth 30 million won (26,000 U.S. dollars) including 20 million won (17,300 dollars) for the child and 5 million won (4,300 dollars) each for the father and mother with the Changwon District Court against the foundation that runs the hospital.

Jang said, “There is a high chance that children could have alien substances stuck in the throat, but the doctor failed to carefully examine, which can be considered medical negligence.” The hospital said, “We sincerely apologize to the child and parents.”