ROCKLAND, Maine — A 5-year-old boy was at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston on Wednesday as surgeons try to reattach his hand lost in a freak accident Tuesday night in downtown Rockland.
The accident happened at the intersection of Park and Main streets at about 7:30 p.m. as the boy rode in the car with his 52-year-old grandmother from Thomaston.
The child, who was riding in the back seat of the car, had wrapped a jump rope around his wrist and the other end of the rope was dangling out the window. As another vehicle drove by the car, the rope got caught on the other car. The vehicle pulled the rope as it was driving away, severing the hand, according to police.
The name of the boy is not being released by police.
Rockland police and emergency medical services personnel responded.
A LifeFlight helicopter was unable to fly the child because of poor weather conditions that included thundershowers in the region at the time. The child was initially taken to Pen Bay Medical Center in Rockport before being driven to Mass General by ambulance.
Poor kid.I hope his hand can be reattached.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery! As well as for a successful reattachment.
Incredible and indeed a ‘freak’ accident. Poor little guy. How traumatizing for both he and meme. Modern medicine is marvelous, hopefully they will succeed in reattaching the hand.
As a parent, grandparent and as a person who has worked with children that age for over 30 years, children this age do things like that, adults who care for them try to be viligent about everything but sometimes things do happen. I certainly would consider it a freak accident, I am sure the grandmother had no idea that playing with a jump rope would cause this. Only takes a minute for a child to toss it out the window–and how many times do you suppose a child does this same thing and nothing happens. The freakiest part of it is that a car came by at just that time and the jump rope got caught on it. My heart goes out to this whole family as well as the driver of the car that caught onto the jump rope. This is nothing but an accident–an accident is just that–something that happens that was intended to happen.
Extremely well said!
kal,I’m assuming and may be wrong but the last line ” This is nothing but an accident–an accident is just that–something that happens that was intended to happen”should say that was not intended,but I get and others did too, what you meant.
yes–that is what I meant!!!
Im sorry,I took part of the whole sentence out of context,my apologies
I agree that no one should blame the grandmother or anybody. Sure, kids should be taught to keep their hands in the window but he is young and it serves no purpose to blame anyone. I feel sorry for all involved. Imagine how the other driver must have felt too!
Oh my, I hope you get better soon buddy!! I used to think my mom was crazy when she would tell me not to stick my hand out the car window.
my parents would scare us with a story of a kid who hung his head out a bus window and had it lopped off by a road sign….I never hung anything out the window.
Good parents. Not all have that evidently.
That story made the rounds on our bus, but even before then as a 3 and 4 year old I would yell at my mother to not stick her hands (or even elbows) out the windows! (She wasn’t “allowed” to sing either, only humming. Haha!) Now I get to yell at my man when he does it. :)
Wishing this boy a complete and speedy recovery!!!
Accident – “An unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury.”
Now that you’ve been educated….
Reee-laxxx
I guess I don’t have a problem with the term accident-but adding freak to it implies another level. Anyone with common sense should know that you never hang a rope out the window of a moving car. To me, a freak accident is a limb falling off a tree while you happen to be walking under it, a lightening strike, or being hit by something that falls off of an airplane. That rope would almost surely catch on something-maybe even the driver’s own tire for example. Sorry for all parties involved but I just don’t agree that this was an “unavoidable freak” accident. Of course Granma didn’t mean to hurt the little boy and I’m sorry for their troubles.
How much common sense would a 5 year old have?
Piper you are talking about acts of God–acts of nature kinds of accidents (well all except the airplane incident you talked of which would be a freak accident.) Of course it could have been avoided–but no one can possibly think of all the things a child might do while riding in the back seat. I think the freak part of the accident is that all the circumstances had to be just right at that very moment for it to happen and it doesn’t happen very often and most likely won’t happen again–the grandmother not noticing the child has put the jump rope around his wrist, not noticing he put it out the window while she was paying atenttion to her driving. Then for a car to come along at just the right angle and just the right speed at just that moment to catch the jump rope and drag it along, if any of these things had been just a bit different this would not have happened.
Well said. I have to wonder how the cars came ‘sideswipe’ close, though. Another example of people riding the center line?
The poor little critter is in the best place, and I’m praying.
My udder half may tell me how he’s doing tonite, as she is an OR nurse at Mass Gen. Of course, I can’t let it out to anyone else, which is as it should be (but still wish I could…). :(
Hmmmm…well she isn’t supposed to tell you either!!!!
Well, After 30 years, I haven’t betrayed her! I did acknowledge that I wished I could update people, but couldn’t.
Besides, with over 60 operating rooms, I have been told that she hadn’t even heard of the case. Take it easy, huh? :)
You may not have betrayed her, but (according to what you’ve written) she’s betrayed her patients’ right to privacy for up to 30 years. The seriousness of this in legal terms has become a lot more severe since HIPAA’s been in force.
Liz, I’m sorry that not all people have a marriage like ours, but we don’t live in a contractual roommate type home. We actually trust each other implicitly! It probably isn’t all that common, but is actually quite nice and I recommend it to everyone. When the lights go out at the end of the day, everyone needs someone to ask how your day went. :)
This has nothing to do with whether or you and your wife have a long and happy marriage (for the record, my husband and I will soon be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary).
This is about HIPAA. A Federal law that your wife is breaking by sharing confidential patient information with you.
If she pleads that she did not know she was violating the law, she could be fined $100 per violation, with an annual maximum of $25,000 for repeat violations. Good luck with that, since HIPAA training is mandatory.
If she can convince a judge that she had a “reasonable” cause to confide in you (to enhance your marriage might not count), the fine would be $1,000 per violation, with an annual maximum of $100,000 for repeat violations.
If she promises to stop instantly, she might get by with $10,000 per violation, with an annual maximum of $250,000 for repeat violations.
If it’s proved that she knew exactly what she was doing and it was wrong, the penality could be $50,000 per violation, with an annual maximum of $1.5 million.
Oh, and she should be fired. It sickens me to know that 1) she’s breaking patient confidentiality and 2) you’re bragging about it.
Oh, c’mon. We are both perfectly aware of the legal implications that you drone on about with much verbosity. It’s nothing more than some harmless pillow talk between husband and wifethat comforts us. If your 40 year marriage doesn’t have the same level of trust that ours does to the point that you feel the need to dress me down from your superior perch, what can I say?
We both know enough to not spread this stuff around. I’ve always enjoyed your common sense comments and I thought you would understand where I’m coming from. but this time you’ve either not listened to what I have expressed or just chosen to not comprehend it. :|
Happy for you. I don’t get the problem either.
I understand that it’s pillow talk and that it comforts you both. I realize I’m coming across as intense on this subject, and I apologize if I’ve offended you.
You wrote in a public forum that your wife shares confidential medical information with you. You specified, as I recall, that she might even tell you specifics about the case at hand.
I’m worried about your lack of concern for both her ethical breach and for the fact that it could result in her getting fired.
You might try telling her that you posted this information in the on-line newspaper and ask for her reaction…
Just how, pray tell, can she get busted when I don’t tell? It is nothing more than “Oh, I had a case today where this or that happened”. The only times that names were mentioned were when some celebrity came in and it went no further than “some procedure” or seeing a singer on TV and “we fixed her/his voice box. Harmless chatter, I assure you. It’s a completely different situation than when I could come hame and say “I worked on Steven Tyler’s Benz today!” Don’t assume that everybody is that dumb. Plus, I showed her the comments this morning, She knows that what is leaked to me will go no further.
‘K? :)
The only thing I meant to “brag” about was our marriage. I apologize if it came across differently.
Going to have to agree with Liz, here. As a nurse, I know how important HIPAA laws are. That is a 100% breach of patient confindentiality to point out “we did this on that person”. My spouse has had people approach him and state “did your wife tell you she saw me at the doctor’s office?” He replies, “No, but she wouldn’t tell me anyway.” If I’m working at the hospital and see his mother rushed in to the emergency room and I’m on duty, I have no right to call him to tell him without getting permission from his mother first. Yes, my own mother-in-law. If I take care of his best friend, I would leave it up to the friend to mention that I was his nurse. Now, if I see someone and they say “tell so and so I said hi”, I will mention that due to privacy laws, I will tell say “hi” for them but I will not disclose where I saw the person and that usually sums it up for the person receiving the message. As for being busted or not being caught, this is a moral issue as well. You have absolutely no right, nor does anyone else in the family or any friends, to have one smidgen of information regarding a patient in the hospital to the extent that you know who that person is. Even being vague like “We had a 40 year old in the ER last night who was stabbed at Hannaford in Bangor”. Someone can say “Hey, my friend Bill who lives in Bangor is 40 and he always shops at Hannaford! I hope it’s not him.” Too much info. It only takes two identifiers to blow someones identity. Your obviously trusting marriage ad your zipped lip has NOTHING to do with the fact that your wife should not be disclosing that much information to you in the first place.
Thanx for your input. I’ve always held you in high regard. I think that this having gone to an idealistic “moral” level is a bit much for the issue at hand. In large city such as Bostonwhere there are so many hospitals and so many coming from outside, I don’t believe that a Hannaford stabbing in a smaller community would be recognized as “Oh, I may know him ” situation. Besides, did you comprehend any of my remarks concerning a ‘go no further’ trust between a husband and wife’s pillow talk? It would appear not. Much respect. BUZ
PS She went in early today for another 8 hr liver transplant (TMI for you?). Maybe they’ll have to go back in for a missing sponge.That is our conversation topics. Who they are is totally irrelevant to me and WILL GO NO FURTHER. There is nothing wrong if for my concern for a little boy’s situation at the supper table is too much for people to understand (I have to reiterate again that it won’t get out) I have to wonder why I’m being hammered over a simple situation. Besides, has my original query as to why the cars being so close togrther as to catch the rope been answered? Nope! It would seem that people would rather preach about the morality to a tangent in my original comment instead….
My comments weren’t meant to offend, just educate, so to speak. So I appologize if I have. I think people don’t realize that it is absolutely possible to breach patient identity with only TWO indicators, which can include age, sex, date of service, department of service, race, diagnosis, room number, etc. Yes, Boston is big and has many hospitals, but you volunteered she worked for Mass Gen. in the OR. That narrows the Boston area down by quite a bit. And when it comes to morality, ethics refer to a system of morals that are used in medicine. The nurse has an obligation to safeguard a patient’s privacy. The Nursing Code of Ethics states that “Only information pertinent to a patient’s treatment and welfare is disclosed, and only to those directly involved with the patient’s care”. So despite the fact that you don’t plan on the information going beyond your home, if any of he above-mentioned identifiers are disclosed, that is against the rules. As it is with my own husband, you have absolutely no right to any information regarding patients other than general topics. So no, your liver transplant/missing sponge may be benign info in your eyes, but if you were to hear someone talking about how their loved one was in the hospital for a missing sponge at Mass General, you already know too much because now you know that they have liver failure and who their family is-easily trackable. Sticky situation, yes, and we have probably all inadvertently discussed things we shouldn’t but really we, as medical professionals, need to stay with the over-used quote of “what happens at the hospital stays at the hospital”.
It’s just late night pillow talk!
Educating others is all well and good. It’s the right forum for it, but you’re preaching to the choir where I’m concerned. Let’s just leave it as I have stated my position well enough. If people feel the need to keep hammering me with the obvious even after stating my case repeatedly, then I’ll just close now. With all due respect, BUZ
By simply bragging on a public forum about your connection to information at the hospital shows just how careless you are with said information your wife trusts you with.
Being an OR nurse is probably pretty grueling, and blowing off steam at the end of the day with someone you love and trust is certainly more desirable than developing an ulcer, or a drinking problem.
Thanks for being the one that didn’t hammer me! I’m really not a bad or horribly stupid guy… :)
5-year-olds don’t have much experience in the concept of “if I do Y, X might happen”. To imply that “anyone with common sense should know ______” doesn’t even apply here because we’re talking about a child. I have kids. You can’t always see what they’re playing with. They could have stashed something under the seat and pulled it out to play with. I hope your statement of “Gramma didn’t mean to hurt the little boy” doesn’t imply she was careless or neglectful. Gramma had nothing to do with this accident.
File this one in the “Horrible Beyond Words” category. Wishing the little guy a successful outcome, and sending prayers and compassion to his grandmother and family, as well as the driver of the other vehicle.
Poor kiddo. Hope the reattachment is successful and that he makes a full recovery. This must have been terribly traumatic, but it sounds like it could have been much worse. Thank goodness it doesn’t sound like a life-threatening scenario.
Wow, how awful!
A horrible freak accident, for sure! It only takes a split second for something like this to happen. He could have thrown the jump rope out the window just a moment before the car came by close enough to catch it and cause the accident. To say the grandmother wasn’t paying any attention and hadn’t told him not to do it is just making an assumption about the situation, which is completely unfair. How much can you watch a child in the back seat while you’re driving and paying attention to the road? Even watching the mirrors and trying to watch what the child is doing, there are many moments where a child can ‘get away’ with things and not listen!
We all need to do our best to keep an eye on our child and realize that something that may seem simple and innocent and unlikely can still be dangerous and shouldn’t be allowed. This can be an eye opener for many parents.
I hope the child recovers well and manages to save his hand. I can’t imagine being his mom or grandmother!
I completely agree with you. It never would have crossed my mind when my kids were that age that having a jump rope could be something so dangerous.
I’m guessing your not a parent piper03301 and assume that just watching a child instead of the road would have a better out come.I see no where that it was left hanging out the car before this trip started,my thinking is that this child was playing with a toy in the backseat and tossed it out the window.No way could grandma prevented this,childs are inquisitive and will do things that you or I could ever have imagined,yes Im a parent of three,they all did things that surprised allot of parents,nothing to this degree.How would you have prevented what you are saying is not a “freak” accident. Maybe you can instruct all of us how to rip one eye outta our head and keep that eye on a child while the other eye was keeping look out for everything else around them?And my prayers are there for the kid and the entire family,also the other driver if they are known this is terrible all around.
Also to grandma,please don’t blame yourself.There was nothing you could have done that could’ve led you to foresee this ever happening.This is no way any fault of yours ! Be a loving grand parent.This is NOT your fault.
Exactly! Do these people even stop to think about how TERRIBLE the grandma must feel?? My daughter was at my grandmothers and she fell and landed wrong on her elbow and popped it out of socket my grandmother didnt even want to take her again afraid something may happen! I assured her it was an accident and she took her again. My point is its an accident get over it and leave the grandma alone!
Would you have complained as loudly if grandma crashed her car into someone and killed them and said “oh, I was just looking in the back seat at my grandson?” I always taught my children not put their hands out the window. And at 5 years old, most kids are knowledgeable enough to not hang themselves or do something dangerous so the though that something like this could happen would never have crossed my mind when my children were that age and if all parents want to be completely honest, they would probably say the same. It was a horrible freak accident. Blame all you want but I sure as heck hope nothing as “freak” ever happens to you. Truly.
Would you have complained as loudly if grandma crashed her car into someone and killed them and replied “oh, I was just watching my grandson in the back seat and just took my eyes of the road for a quick second?”
Yes I have kids and they are practically perfect in every way. Seriously folks-I wasn’t complaining loudly-I wasn’t condemning Grandma-my issue was with the “freak” thing. My issue is-if a rope is dangling out of the window of a moving car-only bad things can happen-that’s all. Once again-I hope all parties heal from this horrible thing. If it makes you feel better-one time I was horse playing with one of my boys and almost ripped his ear off-it was an accident but I wouldn’t call it a “freak” accident because I was being too rough. No one is perfect and I’m sure she loves that little boy.
so all this fuss over the word freak being used? Maybe you should wish the family the best and move on…I mean come on.
Amen to that!! :)
If you do something a million times and something bad happens once then that would be a freak accident. When I think of a kid hanging a rope out the window of a moving car-I see nothing but trouble every time. I wish the family the best but I also hope that no one ever lets anything-rope-clothing-feet- dangle out of a moving car window because something terrible is bound to happen-by labeling this a freak accident-I’m not sure that message gets out. I wasn’t the one that created the fuss.
Please stop clogging up the pbb with your disagreeing attitude, you sound petty and over-analyzing. Best wishes to the family of this child. My prayers are with you.
How awful. I hope for a successful and speedy recovery.
Sadly, I recall a similar story about a little girl out of state a year or so ago. Same exact thing.
Prayers for this child for a full recovery…
Awww….love & prayers!
OUCH poor little guy I hope everything works out for the best as well as a speedy recovery.
for those blaming the grandmother, if you put your eyes on your kids in the backseat while you were driving, you would not be able to drive. things only take a second. it happens. i’m thankful her eyes were on the road thus preventing an entire vehicle (s) accident. the thought of what that little boy endured makes my physically ill, i cannot express enough how much we have all thought about him and have hopes for a problem free surgery and recovery and future ahead ♥
My guess is that the ones blaming grandma are the same ones who do the complaining about distracted driving accidents (which I do as well, but at least I’m not a hypocrite). I can only envision how much worse this could have been had grandma been taking her eyes off the road to deal with a jump rope that her grandson was playing with, which seems to be what some folks think grandma should have been doing.
well said legalwoman72!!!!!
don’t mean to be flippant here.
but that had to hurt
hope the little guy recovers
is there a fund for him
if not start one
MassGeneral Hospital for Children
Pediatric Intensive Care Unit
Bigelow Six
55 Fruit Street
Boston, MA 02114
Noah, Room 650
-0-0-0-0-
I seriously cannot even begin to believe that there’s even a discussion going on about whether or not it was a “freak” accident” or blaming grandma. I happen to know this family very well and I can tell you that the grandmother has plenty of “common sense”. She is an incredible grandmother, mother and person. Loves that little boy more than life itself!! If she could have prevented it from happening she would have, just as I would imagine you all would have. Instead of passing judgement or making comments like it’s “common sense” why not try praying instead for the little boy, his grandma and their family because right now they need prayer and love much more than they need rude comments.
I agree with you completely. I have to limit my time on BDN sometimes because I would otherwise lose faith in my fellow human beings when people can be so heartless, cruel and “holier than thou”…All we can do is hope something “freaky” never happens to one of their loved ones and that they are blamed for something that, truth be known, could likely have happened to any single one of us as parents or grandparents! I sure do hope this poor little fella can save his hand.
Well, said. That poor little boy! I hope his recovery goes well.
Well said. Please pass along to this family that hundred and thousands of Mainers are thinking of them during this very difficult time. This is beyond words, a very tragic accident. As a mom to a 5 year old, I have cried every time I have read this article looking for an update on this little guy. A lot of lives changed in a split second. Please hug this entire family for me.
Whether one calls this a “freak” accident or not, it is unfortunate and “might” have been avoided had the grandmother saw and realized the potential for danger. Whether or not she did or did not she should not be considered at fault as would be the child. BUT, there clearly is a lesson here which should be obvious to most. Consider such things and prevent or counsel youngsters (or others) about this type of thing from happening. As an example, just the other week a friend and I were moving a trailer and a securing strap was or became loose and bound around the trailer wheel. While I did notice it flapping in my mirror, it bound around the tailer wheel and broke with tremendous force before I could pull over. Please consider the possibility of ANYTHING like this as getting caught on something and perhaps fewer accidents can occur. Thanks. (Best wishes to the boy and family)
Poor Sweetheart! OMG! Thats aweful! and yes a freak accident is right…
Right, because Grandma tied the jump rope to his wrist herself and told him to dangle it out the window!
Show a tiny amount of sympathy for once.
Hindsight is 20/20. Many thoughts to the family and little tyke.
Actually, I believe the 5 year old DID do it all on his own.
poor lil guy !! Things like this is why I use the window lock out button every time my grandchildren are in the back seat. The lock out thing started by trying to save on shoes….
if anyone would like to send this sweet lil boy get well wishes or a lil something, here is his address
MassGeneral Hospital for ChildrenPediatric Intensive Care UnitBigelow Six55 Fruit StreetBoston, MA 02114Noah, Room 650
come on people freak accident I think they call it some thing else I just hope for the little guy is OK and this the last so called freak accident