Baby who bled for hours after circumcision was sent home from ER twice, suffered brain damage: lawsuit

The mother of a boy who suffered permanent brain damage after he bled into his diapers all day following his circumcision says they were twice turned away from a Manitoba emergency department when they sought care.

She is now suing the Southern Health region and three health-care workers in the city of Portage la Prairie, alleging her son didn't receive timely medical attention and treatment in 2017.

Her statement of claim was filed on June 22 of this year with Manitoba Court of Queen's Bench.

The health authority says it hasn't yet been served, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.

Statements of defence hadn't been filed as of then, and none of the allegations have been proven in court.

The child, whom CBC News is not naming due to private health information, was born healthy in 2017, according to the statement of claim.

In August, when he was one month old, he was taken to the Portage Clinic to be circumcised by a doctor — an important part of his family's Muslim faith.

About four hours after the circumcision, the parents opened his diaper and found it bloodstained.

They took him back to the clinic to see the doctor who performed the circumcision. He is named as a defendant in the lawsuit, accused of not performing the circumcision properly and not properly following up on the baby's care.

The doctor checked out the baby, put Vaseline on him and sent him home with his parents, the suit says.

Three hours later, the parents found the baby's diaper was "saturated" with blood, according to the court document.

They changed it and applied Vaseline, as the doctor had advised, but took the baby to the hospital in Portage la Prairie, where the same doctor was working in the emergency department.

Around 7 p.m. — about an hour after he was taken to the ER — the baby was discharged with no change in treatment, the statement of claim says.

The parents returned to the hospital at 9:30 p.m., where the baby was triaged by a nurse, who is also named as a defendant.