Five workers from the General Hospital of Zone 16 in Torreón, Coahuila, were terminated from their position after declaring a premature baby dead who still had vital signs at the time of birth, reported the Mexican Institute of Social Security ( IMSS ).
Among the personnel are the director of the hospital and four health workers who were allegedly involved in the negligence and whose license to practice medicine has been suspended until an investigation is completed.
On Sunday night, Jesús Sebastián died, the newborn who last week had been sent to the morgue by personnel from the General Hospital of Zone number 16 in Torreón, despite the fact that he still had vital signs.
The mother, Daniela Hernández, had been admitted to this hospital since last week due to complications and a risk of premature birth at six months.
Daniela was kept in bed and under care for several days, but on the night of August 18, she went into labor. However, the doctors informed her that her baby was stillborn. She insisted that she saw the little boy move, but the doctors indicated that this could be due to a reflex after death, so they declared the time of death and sent the baby to the morgue.
Four hours had passed since the birth, and the relatives had already proceeded to sign the death certificate and even held a small funeral service and asked to see the baby one last time.
When attendees went to the morgue, they realized that the baby was still breathing. The baby lived four more days before passing away this Sunday.
The family filed a lawsuit with the State Prosecutor’s Office for medical negligence and asked the authorities to take over the investigation.
The IMSS assured that it would investigate the case and if irregularities were found in the process, sanctions would be issued against the staff responsible.
