Broken jaw blunder: Botched surgery leaves Thai man unable to eat
A botched operation on a Thai man’s broken jaw has left him unable to eat. The Thai man reached out to the Social Security Office (SSO) after suffering from a broken jaw but the operation went horribly wrong.
The 42 year old Thai man, Sommai, reached out to the non-profit organisation Saimai Survive after failing to receive proper medical treatment for his broken jaw. He even having to cover the treatment costs himself, despite his monthly contributions to the SSO.
Sommai explained that he fainted outside his home on February 18 and lost consciousness. His family rushed him to a hospital in the Pak Kret area of Nonthaburi province, near Bangkok, where he was registered for social security.
Sommai received six stitches for a wound on his chin and was later sent to the dental department for a tooth extraction the following day. The doctor said that six of his teeth needed to be removed. The extraction cost 11,400 baht but the SSO covered only 900 baht, leaving Sommai to pay the remainder himself.
According to Sommai, the doctor managed to remove only two of the six teeth because he could not bear the pain in his jaw, and the bleeding would not stop. The following day, Sommai was unable to open his mouth but the doctor insisted he return home to rest.
Sommai refused to leave the hospital and urged the doctor to carefully examine his jaw again but the doctor refused. Sommai returned home on February 20 but his condition worsened on February 28.
The man decided to seek further diagnosis at the Faculty of Dentistry at Bangkok Thonburi University, where it was discovered that his jaw was broken.
The university transferred him to Mahidol University for further examination, and the doctor there insisted that Sommai urgently needed jaw surgery.
Mahidol University urged Sommai to obtain an official case transfer document from the SSO hospital to receive surgery on March 3. Unfortunately, the SSO hospital did not issue the document and insisted that he receive treatment there.
Sommai lost faith in the SSO hospital, refused treatment, and continued to seek a transfer document. In the meantime, he decided to pay 12,000 baht for initial treatment at Mahidol University while waiting for the document and surgery.
Currently, Sommai can only drink water and consume liquid food, and he remains uncertain about how to proceed with surgery on his jaw.
According to a report on Channel 3, SSO officials plan to contact Sommai for further details and promised to investigate the diagnosis and medical procedures carried out at the hospital in Nonthaburi.
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