Medical misinformation: Girl needed emergency surgery after parents fail to give antibiotics

Reporter·NZ Herald·13 Aug, 2026 05:00 PM5 mins to read‌A girl suffered life-threatening complications after her parents gave her silver nitrate instead of the antibiotics prescribed for a minor eyelid infection. The image on the left shows her eye during her first visit to doctors, the one on the right shows it four days later. Photo / New Zealand Medical JournalA girl needed emergency surgery for a life-threatening condition after her parents failed to give the 9-year-old antibiotics prescribed for a minor infection – because they didn’t believe in modern medicine. The rare case of Pott’s puffy tumour was complicated by parents who believed in “medical misinformation” and administered diluted