Midwife in China partially cuts off baby's finger with umbilical cord scissors, gets suspended

A father in China had just welcomed his baby boy on Christmas 2025 at a county hospital when his doctor told him that a midwife had "accidentally" cut his baby's finger with umbilical cord scissors.

When the father, surnamed Sheng, confronted the midwife, she allegedly said the accident was caused by the baby moving his hands unexpectedly, reported Jimu News.

Although Sheng's baby underwent surgery, Sheng told Fengmian News that his baby still had difficulty lifting his hand.

Sheng's baby would also wake up frequently at night, crying because of the pain from the injury on his finger.

What happened

Speaking to Hongxing News, Sheng said his wife was admitted for a C-section surgery at the county hospital in the southern Chinese province of Jiangsu at around 9:30am on Dec. 25, 2025.

About one hour later, Sheng's wife gave birth to their baby son.

However, at around 12pm, a doctor broke the news that a midwife had cut the baby's left middle finger by accident.

Sheng lamented: "I could not believe that such an established hospital could cut my baby's finger when severing the umbilical cord. How can they make such a lowly mistake?"

Underwent replantation surgery

According to Sheng, the county hospital later asked him to transfer his baby to another hospital, as they "could not perform the replantation surgery on the baby due to his young age", reported Hongxing.

Sheng subsequently attempted to transfer his child to a larger hospital in Nanjing, the capital of Jiangsu province, but the hospital was unable to admit the baby.

Eventually, Sheng found a hospital in Wuxi, a nearby city, where his baby could undergo surgery to reattach the finger.

However, doctors at the Wuxi hospital told Sheng that the tendon in the baby's finger had been severed, and the baby was too young for them to repair his severed nerves.

After the surgery, Sheng's baby was hospitalised for around a week.

Incident apparently took place in blind spot

However, when Sheng went to the county hospital to find out what had transpired, he was shocked to learn that the incident had apparently occurred at a blind spot in the surveillance camera's view, reported Jimu.

As a result, Sheng remained unclear about the cause of the incident, and the hospital also allegedly failed to explain exactly what had happened.

As for compensation, the hospital allegedly proposed a one-time payment of 100,000 yuan (S$18,310).

According to Sheng, the hospital said this amount was the maximum they could offer, and any additional compensation would require Sheng to seek legal recourse.

Sheng shared that he has since rejected the hospital's proposal, as he felt certain that it could not cover the amount that he would be spending on his child's subsequent treatments and recovery.

As of Jan. 5, 2026, Sheng had submitted an application to the local health authorities to determine whether the incident constituted medical malpractice.

Midwife suspended from work

In a statement issued on Jan. 5 night, the local health authorities in Sheng's county said it had launched an investigation into the incident.

According to the authorities, the midwife had committed "a grave mistake" when delivering Sheng's baby, causing his left middle finger to be partially severed.

As of Jan. 5, the midwife had been suspended from work.

"The county hospital had apologised sincerely to the child's family multiple times and will bear the responsibility for the child's treatment and recovery," read the statement.

Top images via Canva & 盛者为王/Douyin