Living with knife-like plastic object in thigh for over 2 days

On the night of May 2, a vehicle hit Gagandeep’s scooter in Sector 42 from behind. Gagandeep and his business partner Vineet, who was on the pillion, were injured. Unknown to Gagandeep, a piece of plastic broke off from the scooter, pierced into his right thigh and got lodged deep in the muscles.

Gagandeep was taken to GMSH-16 while Vineet, who suffered serious head injuries, was taken to PGI.

[related-post]

The doctors stitched Gagandeep’s wound. “My brother kept telling them that there was an acute pain in his thigh and that he could feel something inside, but they did not listen,” said Amandeep.

“The X-ray next day showed the presence of a foreign object, but the doctors said there was a fracture. On our insistence they conducted a CT-scan and then decided to conduct the surgery. It was sheer negligence on their part,” said Amandeep.

When the plastic piece was taken out of Gagandeep’s thigh on May 5, the entire surgical unit was surprised. They had never seen such a case before.

Dr Neeraj Gupta, medical officer of the hospital, denied the charge of negligence and said the patient was treated on priority.
“He reported with a minor injury on his right thigh. It was a 3-cm-long wound. We thought it is a soft tissue injury, hence we stitched the wound after cleaning it,” said Dr Gupta.

He added, “Next day, as the patient complained of pain, we sent him for an X-ray. The report was suggestive of a fracture. However, I found that the fracture pattern was very atypical and asked for a CT scan. Usually, we do not get a CT scan done, but in this case, I got suspicious and recommended the test. “

The CT scan ruled out a fracture; it showed that the bone was intact but “there was a foreign body which was mimicking fracture”, said Dr Gupta.

Gagandeep is now stable and walking on his own. Vineet is in coma and undergoing medical treatment at the PGI.