Mom Watch In Horror As Receptionist With No Medical Training Glued Her Son’s Eye Shut

A Canadian mother is furious after watching in horror as a receptionist at a doctor’s office with no medical training glued her 3-year-old son’s eye shut, according to the Daily Mail. On July 1, Julia Vavatsikos took her son to a private clinic, Clinique Médicale Privée Jean-Pierre Savaria, near their home after the family cat scratched his eyelid.

When she arrived at the clinic, Dr. Jean Therrien was the only physician on duty at the time and, after examining Vincenzo Vavatsikos’ eye, he informed the mother that he was going to use a medical glue to seal the cut. In lieu of applying the glue himself, he called on a receptionist for help, who did not have any medical training.

As the receptionist applied the glue to the boy’s eye, she accidentally glued his eye shut. “My son was yelling, ‘Mommy, mommy,’ ” Vavatsikos said. “He couldn’t open his eye and also the doctor looked like he was panicking. He was trying to open my son’s eye with water and his fingers, he was even swearing at that point. I’ve never met any doctors that swear.”

“At that point, I knew something was really wrong. I got emotional, I got scared. I was angry. I had many, many different feelings. I didn’t know what to do. He might as well have asked me to put glue on my son’s eye.”

When the physician, who has more than 30 years in his field, failed to open the boy’s eye, he told Vavatsikos to take her son to the emergency room. He said he was going to alert the medical staff and they would be waiting for her arrival.

When she went to the hospital, she said that “the first nurse couldn’t believe it. She said first of all, they try to avoid using glue because things like this could happen especially on places like an eye. But if they have to do it, the nurses aren’t allowed. It has to be a doctor or a specialist. At that point, I was even more frustrated.”

However, an ophthalmologist was able to successfully open her son’s eye, but had to remove his eye-lashes to do so. The doctor said that Vincenzo should not suffer any long-term issues with his eye, according to the New York Daily News.

The Canadian mother was charged $150 for the hospital visit, but the private clinic she originally went to refunded the money. The doctor, nor the receptionist who glued the boy’s eye shut, were willing to answer any questions about the horrifying experience. However, one of the clinic’s owners – whose name has not been released – told CBC that the incident occurred as a result of the boy moving while she was applying the glue. Had she restrained him or held him down properly, it all could have been avoided.

Vavatsikos has gone public with her story to inform others that “doctors should be held accountable” for their actions. “I don’t want any other kid, adult, baby to go through that — to go through what my son went through,” she said. “He was absolutely traumatized. I think the doctor needs to know what he did wasn’t right.”

[Image via YouTube screen capture]