A hospital in south China has suspended four medical workers for
mistakenly diagnosing a stillbirth and disposing of a baby that was
alive, state press said Friday.
Health authorities in Guangdong province have launched an
investigation into the incident on October 26 at the Nanhai Red
Cross Hospital in Foshan city, the Beijing News said.
Liu Dongmei -- eight months pregnant -- had been rushed to the
hospital with internal bleeding and stomach cramps.
She later had an emergency birth, but the baby was neither
breathing nor crying when it came out and its skin had turned
purple, the report said.
Believing it was dead, the medical team disposed of the child
but did not follow proper hospital procedures, it added.
When Liu's sister-in-law asked to see the body around 30 minutes
after birth, she was handed a yellow plastic bag containing the
infant and found it was still alive, said the Foshan News, a local
website.
"I opened the plastic bag and saw the baby's hands and feet
moving, the stomach was going up and down and air bubbles were
coming out of his mouth," the paper quoted her as saying.
She was further shocked when she saw the baby was a boy -- not a
girl as the family had been told, it said.
According to the Foshan News, nurses had told the family the
child was a girl in an effort to blunt the blow of its death.
In China, baby boys are often viewed as more precious than
girls, as many families can have only one child as part of the
nation's population policy and desire a male heir.
Following the discovery, the newborn was rushed to intensive
care where he remains in stable condition.
Officials at the hospital and Foshan's Nanhai health bureau
refused to comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.
China's healthcare system -- once widely praised for improving
the health of millions -- is now panned as costly, underfunded and
providing shoddy treatment, especially in poorer regions.
Liu and her husband are seeking to sue the hospital for 300,000
yuan ($45,000), the Beijing News said.
The head of the maternity ward, a doctor and two nurses have
been suspended pending the results of the investigation, it
added.
-- Yahoo!