Telford GP practice probe after baby 'burned'
An eight-week-old baby was left with burns after treatment to get rid of his umbilical cord, according to his mother.
Tiny Cayson Yale had umbilical granuloma – an overgrowth of tissue during the healing process of the belly button.
Mother Abbey Watson, 21, mentioned it to her health visitor, who said it might go on its own, but five weeks later there was still no change.
But when Abbey took Cayson for his six-week postnatal check-up at her GP surgery in Telford, she claims the doctor treated him with a silver nitrate pen to burn away the excess skin.
Abbey says the baby became increasingly distressed as his belly button started to get redder and redder and she rushed him to hospital, where she claims she was told he had chemical burns from the silver nitrate.
Full time mum Abbey said: "Cayson's belly was really red, and I could see it was really sore and gunky. I thought maybe that was the reaction it was supposed to have.
"But an hour later it went a grey ash colour and was really inflamed, and then it started getting worse hour by hour."
Abbey rang Shropdoc, the out-of-hours urgent medical service, who saw Cayson and told her to go to the hospital.
She took Cayson to the Princess Royal Hospital, where she was initially told her baby had third degree burns, before he was later diagnosed with chemical burns .
Abbey has now made a formal complaint about the way Cayson was treated.
She said: "I'm a first-time mum and you just don't think something like this could happen to your baby – Cayson is my first baby and I was none the wiser. I'd hate for this to happen to someone else's baby too."
A spokesman for the Telford and Wrekin Clinical Commissioning Group confirmed a complaint had been received, adding: "The CCG is aware that an complaint has been made and this is being investigated by the practice ."
