Family claims ER gave short shrift to man who kicked dog before attack
Officials at Queen Sirikit Hospital will set up a committee to investigate charges emergency room personnel negligently treated a Sattahip man who later died of blood-loss complications from a dog bite.
Mana Testrit, 51, died June 11 at Chonburi Hospital, the third medical facility he’d visited that day following the attack by his pet Golden Retriever “Peter.” According to Mana’s wife, Sompong Rodkram, the attack likely occurred after her husband kicked the dog, something he’d done regularly to the 3-year-old canine since it was a puppy.
Mana Testrit is led away from his house to receive treatment from bites received from pet Golden Retriever “Peter” (back, left).
Ironically, despite his frequent animal cruelty, Mana’s last words reportedly were to tell relatives not to hurt the dog in retribution for the attack.
Distraught family members heeded the dead man’s wishes, but lashed out at Queen Sirikit doctors for allegedly giving Mana’s injuries short shrift and causing his death.
Mana’s son, Manop, claimed emergency room doctors and nurses ignored the family’s pleas to admit his father to the hospital and ignored signs the victim had lost serious amounts of blood from several deep bites. They left him alone for an extended time, Manop said, finally only returning to give him a tetanus injection and send him on his way.
Mana went home to his Soi Bonkai house, but relatives concerned about his pasty complexion and weakness had him taken to Sattahip KM 10 Hospital, where he went into shock and passed out. Doctors there sent him to the more-advanced Chonburi Hospital, where he died.
Queen Sirikit’s deputy director, Capt. Surasing Prapaipanit, the naval medical center’s judge advocate general and three other senior staff members attended Mana’s funeral June 13, laying a wreath on his coffin as a token of respect. But officials had no comment on the charges against the facility other than to say a committee will be set up to investigate the man’s treatment.
Surasing said family members were interviewed for their side of the story but that the commission will require time to review all the facts, paperwork in the case and interview the medical team on duty at the time.
As for the dog, Manop said Peter is now back at home after spending a couple of days at Sattahip Veterinary Hospital. He said some neighbors had threatened to poison the dog, which they’d raised since birth, following the attack.
