A man who suffered 60% burns to his body after trying to unblock a washing machine with caustic soda is described as at risk of losing his hands after being released from hospital.
70-year-old Luís Vieira was treated for his wounds at the State-run Amadora-Sintra hospital – his hands were bound in bandages and a gauze compress “placed on the inside of his anus”.
He was given medication to inject as he had internal burns also, writes Correio da Manhã. But when he got home, the agony just got progressively worse.
His burns started ‘leaking liquid’, says the paper.
Son João decided to take his distressed father to a different hospital – this time the Hospital of the Armed Forces (his father had been a sergeant in the Commandos), and here doctors were “shocked by what they saw”.
Mr Vieira senior was sent to Lisbon’s top burns unit at the São José Hospital, and he is still there.
The leaking liquid was a sign that infection was setting in, says CM.
The elderly man faces a series of reconstructive surgeries and “runs the risk of losing his hands”.
It is not fully explained how Mr Vieira sustained injuries to his anus unblocking a washing machine, but suffice it to say that his son has registered a complaint with Amadora-Sintra which has admitted to CM that it is “aware” of such.
An internal inquiry has been opened “to find out exactly what happened”.
