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Argentine hospital blamed after "dead" baby found alive

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BUENOS AIRES | Wed Apr 11, 2012 5:04pm EDT

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A mother whose newborn baby was found alive in an Argentine morgue 12 hours after being declared dead on Wednesday blamed hospital negligence for the near-fatal mistake.

Doctors told Analia Bouter that her baby was stillborn when she gave birth in Argentina's northern Chaco province on April 3. But when she and her husband pried open the coffin inside the refrigerated morgue, they found the baby breathing.

"We knelt down and thanked God for this miracle," Bouter told reporters. "The doctor always treated the baby as if she were dead ... 15 minutes after my daughter was born, she was already placed in a closed coffin."

The couple named her Luz Milagros - her middle name meaning miracles in Spanish. Officials say the infant, who was born three months premature, is in critical but stable condition.

Five hospital workers involved in the case were suspended, a provincial health official told a news conference on Tuesday, when the baby's story first came to light.

(Reporting by Luis Andres Henao; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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Comments (2)
AlisonR1 wrote:
Wow, what an incredible story! How could the medical personal not know the baby was alive?

Apr 11, 2012 9:35pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
erica100 wrote:
I’ve read of this happening at least once a year though most of the articles seemed to be in South America. But at least one was a case in the US. The baby wasn’t breathing for minutes but the staff allowed the family to say goodbye. Luckily, one of the grandmothers noticed the baby’s chest moving. A miracle of miracles.
I hope the baby turns out fine…three months early is already a struggle much less being kept in the morgue.

Apr 12, 2012 2:44pm EDT  --  Report as abuse
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