WRONG INFANT Nate Harper had an unnecessary frenulectomy when he was one day old.

There was no chance that the victim of this wrong-patient surgery could speak up and prevent it from happening. Nate Harper was only 1 day old when an unidentified pediatrician confused him with another newborn and performed an unnecessary frenulectomy, according to news reports.

His mother, Jennifer Melton, 31, of Hartsville, Tenn., says she's planning to sue University Medical Center in Lebanon, Tenn., where the mistake happened.

She says she learned of the mistake when a nurse brought Nate back from the hospital nursery and began to explain the care he'd need now that he'd had the procedure — a clipping of the frenulum, which connects the tongue to the floor of the mouth. When the frenulum is too tight, a condition often called "tongue-tie," it can cause breastfeeding and speech problems.

"I was like, what are you talking about?" Ms. Melton tells NBC News. "What procedure?" After demanding an explanation, she got a call from the pediatrician about 15 minutes later, she says. He explained that he'd asked for Nate "in error, and that he was sorry," she says. "'Don't worry, he barely cried,'" she says the pediatrician assured her. "I just sat there and I cried and cried. They were completely reckless in what they did."

Clint Kelly, a Nashville malpractice lawyer who's representing Ms. Melton, tells NBC News that the pediatrician had been speaking to the parents of a newborn who did need the procedure, and "then when he goes into the nursery to perform the procedure, in his own mind, he transposed the names."

Mr. Kelly, who could not be reached for comment by Outpatient Surgery, also says it will be "some time before we can actually tell whether there's speech involvement or difficulty eating from the procedure." Ms. Melton plans to seek unspecified damages once Baby Nate has a Social Security number.

The hospital has refused to comment on the case, citing patient privacy regulations.

Jim Burger