It happened in Italy. An investigation is underway to determine whether the hospital was negligent.
The Italian hospital Sandro Bertini in Rome was put under investigation following the death of a newborn who was allegedly suffocated by his mother’s weight as he fell asleep while breastfeeding.
In an interview Corrier della SeraThe 30-year-old mother says she was admitted to the hospital on January 4 and gave birth the next day after a 17-hour labor that left her so exhausted she felt the need to ask. Help the nurses to take care of the baby.
“For two nights – the first and the following after the delivery – I was able to hold the baby close to me with great difficulty”, she begins by telling the woman, who recalls that the baby was “in very good health”. “He weighed over three kilos”.
“I got worried and asked the nurses for help. I asked them if they could keep him for a while, but they said they couldn’t take him to the nursery”, she says. Admitting that she felt more tired than the previous days, the mother says she asked for help again the next night – but was again refused.
The worst happened that night while I was sleeping after breastfeeding the baby. “I collapsed that night. I couldn’t do it anymore. I don’t remember anything after that,” he says. The child died of suffocation under the mother’s weight.
In the same room, a woman in the adjacent bed realized that the baby was in danger of suffocation and called for help. But when doctors arrived on the scene, it was too late.
“Suddenly, the nurses woke me up in the middle of the night: the baby was no longer near me. Without saying a word to me, they woke me up and took me to the next room, he died”, recalled. The mother says she doesn’t remember the presence of a psychologist, nor has she been given an explanation for her son’s death.
“I’m sure they didn’t tell me how it happened. From that moment I couldn’t understand anything else, everything collapsed. Maybe I fainted.”He says, admitting he doesn’t remember “anything about that night.”
She reveals that she realized what had happened “little by little” and was in disbelief over the whole situation. “I asked for help from the department staff who ran for three nights. [de obstetrícia e ginecologia] There she was admitted to the hospital. They didn’t listen to me.”
According to the Italian newspaper, the public ministry opened an investigation to determine the circumstances of the death and Sant’Ippolito police officers visited the hospital on the afternoon of January 8, obtaining the child’s and mother’s medical records. Hours of doctors and nurses who were on duty from 4th to 8th January.
According to hospital regulations, medical staff are obliged to ensure that the baby returns to the crib after breastfeeding. Lawyers will look into violations of hospital rules and suspicions of negligence.
The child’s mother and father have not yet been questioned by the state attorney’s office, having decided not to file a complaint, relying on “the work of lawyers.”
After news of the case, dozens of mothers shared their experiences of being practically “abandoned” in the postpartum period, while several associations condemned the lack of medical staff in maternity wards and hospitals.
“It could have happened to anyone. After a 15-hour labor and an emergency C-section, I fell asleep so exhausted that my daughter was on my chest. I woke up screaming because she was gone. I thought she was gone. . . fell on the floor, but luckily my mom cradled her.” A woman writes in a post on social networks. Guardian.
The local health authority responsible for the Sandro Bertini hospital promised the hospital unit would cooperate with the investigation, but denied suspicions of poor practices in the service and guaranteed there was no shortage of experts in the field.
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