any nurse or e.r. tech out there that can tell me? My son got his finger tips into a mulching lawn mower and it pulverized 1/4 inch of the bone to his ring finger (doctor’s statement- bone was saw dust) and his middle finger lost 1/8 of the bone. The skin of his finger tips were laid open down to the first knuckle and the bone and tendons exposed. They called an orthopedic doctor who consulted via telephone and told the er doc to stitch him up best he could and he would see him in his office when he returned – in 4 days! The doctor who stitched him then made a comment "this is like sewing up a jigsaw puzzle". so all the statements he kept making didn’t make us feel very good. I asked the e.r. doc… so basically he has floppy finger tips? I mean, why don’t you guys just remove them and sew up some healthy skin because I don’t see this ending in any other way but surgery to remove the bone to the first knuckle and healthy skin to cover it".

He just did his sewing and sent my son home. I changed his bandages today, per doctor instruction. OMG is all I can say. His finger’s look horrid. Lumpy, bumpy, and white (which I guess could be from moisture).

Anyway, our hospital is notorious for screwing things up and I am just wondering if it would be a good idea to take him to a better hospital E.R. in the city.

I KNOW YOU CANT DIAGNOSE. I am just asking if you work in an ER is it pretty standard to send someone home that you know is going to lose an extremity?

thanks

Docs sometimes hold off on final fixes for "dirty" wounds until the patient has been on antibiotics for X number of days, just to make sure that any infection is nipped in the bud. It does no good to do the fine work of salvaging what is left of soft tissue and bone if it only ends badly because of infection. But I would question whether an orthopedic or a plastic surgeon would be the better one to do this final fix. If you have a good family practitioner, discuss this matter with him/her and get another (educated) opinion.