It was a rare injury during what is typically a routine medical procedure.
A baby boy, born at Harlem Hospital in Manhattan in December 2020, was cut down his lower back and buttocks with a surgical instrument while an OB-GYN performed a cesarean section, according to a malpractice complaint filed by the child’s parents in New York State Supreme Court. It alleges that the physician who delivered the infant — Dr. Thomas J. Byrne — acted negligently by not identifying the baby’s position and failing to use the right surgical tools.
“The defendants were careless,” reads the complaint, which was also filed against Harlem Hospital and the public agency that runs it, NYC Health + Hospitals, alleging that the baby “was caused severe pain and suffering.”
But the fact that Byrne was practicing in New York at all was remarkable in itself.
In 1991, he was stripped of his New York medical license after health department officials determined he was an “imminent danger” to patients. A state investigation found Byrne guilty of gross negligence, gross incompetence and obtaining a license fraudulently, among other charges.
New York officials restored Byrne’s medical license in 2014, a rare reversal according to data from the state health department and those familiar with the licensing process. A summary of his restoration application — which was obtained via a request for public records under the state’s Freedom of Information Law — notes that Byrne had gone on to practice in New…
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