India: Newborn Incorrectly Pronounced Dead
In an incident that has sparked public outrage, a newborn baby was mistakenly pronounced dead by doctors in a hospital in India’s capital, Delhi.
The baby’s mother gave birth to twins on Thursday at the Max Super Speciality Hospital, which is privately owned and run.
One of the twins, a baby girl, was stillborn, and doctors told the family that the second child, a little boy, was in a critical condition.
A few hours later, the doctors declared the newborn dead.
According to the child’s grandfather, Praveen Malik, the family were taking their deceased twins to be cremated.
As they travelled, they noticed “some movements” inside one of the polythene bags that the hospital gave them containing the babies’ bodies.
Malik said: “When we opened the bag, we found the boy breathing. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
The infant is being treated at a different hospital, because the family said that they do not trust Max Hospital to care for the child. He remains in a critical condition.
The two doctors responsible have been fired, and the incident has sparked a debate over the quality of expensive private healthcare in India.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted that he had ordered an inquiry into the matter, while the state health minister described the incident as “shocking criminal negligence”.
