Court upholds acquittal of doctor over boy's cotton candy stick death

Friday 21st November, 05:08 AM JST

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franz75 at 11:10 AM JST - 21st November

Try to sue God but in the same time, removing a stick would have the same story ending.

"7-centimeter-long section of the stick was lodged in the boy’s brain."
tmarie at 11:11 AM JST - 21st November

Was the kid running around with the stick in his mouth like to many other kids do? If so, charge the parents.

Can't say I blame the doctor in this case. Probably thought it was just stuck at the roof of his mouth.
fatloser at 11:41 AM JST - 21st November

Doctors are have something a kin to diplomatic immunity in this country.
Potsu at 02:21 PM JST - 21st November

Poor kid and family,why didn't they take an x-ray or ct scan ? Why can't they just make ONE example of these arrogant incompetent doctors ?
tmarie at 02:34 PM JST - 21st November

They have. Which is exactly why people don't want to become OBGYN doctors now. Insurance and lawsuits.
romulus3 at 03:10 PM JST - 21st November

Poor kid and family,why didn't they take an x-ray or ct scan

I would have thought that that should be the first thing to happen when you are dealing with such an injury. Useless doctor.
BBLeo at 03:20 PM JST - 21st November

People like this doctor I call: "white coat hangers.' In my books they are just fat money builders like lawyers. Sure he was acquitted, he is an academic and 'GOD,' to the eyes of humans. They are never wrong, aren't they?
mcheeky at 05:05 PM JST - 21st November

Tough call. He was on night duty and probably all alone. I have seen this myself. Getting an x-ray done in such a case is probably not easily arranged.

Those cotton candy sticks are not exactly hard to break. It was probably broken off below the boy's skin by the boy before the doctor even had a look at it. And being four, the boy was probably not very clear about that little point. After breaking, the part lodged in the boy might have been pushed further in by all manner of actions. So the doctor just saw a wound, and imagining there was more stick shoved up in there would have taken some real imagination. The things are thin. If you never heard of this incident you would not imagine that that little stick could penetrate all that bone either.

If anything, the parents should have realized that all of the stick could not be accounted for. Where the heck were they when the stick went into their kid? The doctor, he wasn't there. And he probably never saw cotton candy sticks that night, that month or that year, not even the remnants of this one that the parents probably left at the festival.

Not knowing these things, I say again, tough call.
outofmydepth at 06:35 PM JST - 21st November

this country had better make things like ER and emergency x-rays and the like easily arranged. the medical system in this country is in shambles and no one is doing anything about it. if feel for the doctors but on the other hand they dont want to work on weekends, nights, etc. i guess they figure thats what the convenience store employees do. let`s get some some people who really care about being doctors and helping people.
sensei258 at 06:49 PM JST - 21st November

Let's see...stick lodged in mouth, take an x-ray. There, and I didn't even go to medical school. It was carelessness plain ans simple.
laconic at 07:34 PM JST - 21st November

sensei258, There wasn't a stick lodged in his mouth, it was in his brain. If I remember correctly from the original stories when this happened, all the doctor could see was a bloody scratch on the roof of the kids mouth which he presumed was caused by the stick which had then fallen on the ground. When you hear hoof beats presume horses not zebras right? What should the doctors do? X-ray every single scrape and bump on the million to one chance that something like this could have happened? I would like to see our national insurance premiums then? Doctors are not omniscient, if anyone is to blame then the parents should have had more sense than to let a four year old run around with a big stick in his mouth. "Sit still until you are finished eating" was my mother's mantra with lollipops.
NYC_Samurai at 04:44 AM JST - 22nd November

I remember this story well. Such a sad accident. The child must have been in severe pain. What a terribly neglegent act on the part of the medical people. And it took almost 10 years for this inexcusable error to be dismissed?!?!
Nessie at 04:49 AM JST - 22nd November

Bamboo, my thoughts exactly. WTF?
sensei258 at 07:25 PM JST - 22nd November

laconic-I didn't get to see the original story, so I guess you're right. If the doctor only heard about the stick, and then only saw a scratch, then I would agree with you. Especially if the kid was acting fine at the time of the office visit.
elbudamexicano at 09:37 PM JST - 22nd November

Cotton candy stick into the brain? What a horrible way to go! I always make sure to not let my kids play with their chop sticks etc..to easy to trip, slip etc..get a chop stick into your eye etc..not good, not good at all. Poor little boy!