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A distraught mother of a newborn says she plans to sue University Medical Center in Lebanon, Tenn. for an unfortunate mix-up that resulted in a pediatrician performing an unnecessary surgery on her one-day-old baby.
The unnamed pediatrician confused newborn Nate Harper with another infant and performed a frenulectomy on him. The tongue-clipping procedure is designed to correct a condition commonly referred to as “tongue tie”, which can cause breastfeeding and speech problems.
Baby Nate’s mom, Jennifer Melton, told NBC News she learned about the surgery for the first time when a nurse brought her the newborn and started explaining care instructions.
"I was like, what are you talking about? What procedure? She called it 'tongue clipping.' I had never heard of it," Melton said.
Melton noticed the bruising under baby’s tongue and demanded an explanation since her son was not having any issues with breastfeeding. After fifteen minutes, the pediatrician called her room and explained the surgery was performed in error then tried to calm her down by stating, “Don't worry, he barely cried.”
"I just sat there and I cried and cried," Melton said. "They were completely reckless in what they did. They took my innocent newborn. He doesn't have a voice for himself to say, 'What are you guys doing? Not me, not me.'"
Malpractice attorney Clint Kelly who is now representing Melton in her case against the hospital said it is too soon to tell what impact the procedure will have on the newborn, but they are planning to sue for unspecified damages as soon as the baby is assigned a social security number.
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