Acupuncture specialist accidentally pierces patient's lungs

September 10, 2019  11:55

A Hamilton acupuncture specialist in New Zealand accidentally punctured a patient with her needles, New Zealand Herald reported.

“The acupuncturist was treating the woman's jian jing points on both sides of her shoulders and inserted the needles in too deeply, leaving the woman with chest pain and shortness of breath, according to findings released by the Health and Disability Commissioner Anthony Hill.

The acupuncturist then withdrew the needles and provided additional treatment until the patient said she felt better. She then sent her home and told her to rest up.

But when the patient went home to rest she began feeling extremely unwell and her left chest was in pain and her right chest was numb,” the source noted. “Her husband took her to the accident and medical clinic later that evening who referred her to the emergency department at the hospital who diagnosed her with a bilateral apical pneumothoraces caused by the acupuncture. Hill found the acupuncturist breached the code when she failed to tell the patient there was a risk of pneumothorax or a collapsed lung and getting written consent before she carried out needling to her jian jing points in March 2018.”

According to Anthony Hill, the acupuncturist had to warn the patient about the risk of pneumothorax or lung collapse and get her written consent to the procedure, but all this was not done. The acupuncturist also did not provide the patient with proper care and behaved unprofessionally when she sent the woman home with such a serious injury.

By the way, Spain intends to ban alternative medicine in the country, including acupuncture and homeopathy because of their harm to health.

Follow NEWS.am Medicine on Facebook and Twitter


 
  • Video
 
 
  • Event calendar
 
 
  • Archive