How To Take Care Of A Baby-Cebu Maternity Hospital Style

[MikeB]

It's easy to slam the nurses. Just as several posts in this thread have, so have millions of people all over the world since this story "went viral", thanks in large part to the parents' facebook postings. But the newborn wasn't just in the hospital, it was was in the Special Intensive Care Unit (SICU) of the hospital because of a lingering infection. It flies in the face of all reason that a nurse or nurses would deliberately tape a baby’s mouth in this condition to stop it’s crying. Would any sane person risk blocking an airway and killing a sick baby in the likely event of vomiting? In the absence of irrefutable proof I don't buy it. To date, the family has not filed a complaint; it is reasonable to ask, why not? The nurses maintain they didn't do it. Instead of giving newspaper interviews and making unsubstantiated allegations via Facebook, the parents should file the complaint by executing the sworn affidavit and let the investigation run its course.

[Americano]

Nothing surprises me these day with maternity care in Philippines. We often bring patients into Vecenti Soto with active TB, and the nurses put them on a strecher, and put them about 2 metres from the entrance to the Critical Care pedi ward....go figure. :1 (103):  :1 (103):

 

Mike,

 

That has to be ignorance or not using their brains. Maybe that's the same thing that happened to the baby.

[i am bob]

We all have run across medical personnel who have done something really stupid...  And I'll even go one better and not limit that statement to medical personnel but to everybody...   Especially me!  But the story that is coming out and the things that are being said - even with the reporters having their own version of what is what - is a really scary prospect for either side!  First question - why would the nurses tape the baby's mouth closed?  If you go back and look at the picture on the first page, maybe you will agree with me that it doesn't look like the taping was meant to do so...  The only thing that tape job would do would be to make itself appear in a picture...  Second question I have is why won't the parents participate with the proper procedure to have the investigation take place?  Something sounds just a little too off to me...  Next question:  the nurse taped the baby's mouth closed to (a) prevent it from crying or (b) hold a pacifier in the baby's mouth.  Let's look at (b) first - pacifiers are not used with babies who are breast-feeding from their mothers.  And none was found later...  Did one actually exist?  And then back to (a) - how many other babies were crying in that room that night?  I would guess a few...  What is one of the first things a nurse will tell a new parent when a baby cries?  "Don't worry!  It's the baby's way of making things right!"  Gas, lung expansion, heart rate - you name it!  So why would a nurse stop a new born baby from crying? So, for my way of thinking, the nurses aren't guilty of this and we have to look at the parents...  Still, why would the parents go this?  It just doesn't make any sense!!!   Am I missing something here?

 

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[MikeB]

After a couple other parents posted pictures of taped babies on FB, the hospital issued an apology for the taping, in effect, admitting it was responsible. The DOH has vowed to continue the investigation and the first parents say they plan a lawsuit. Perhaps we will learn what are the approximate damages for an otherwise unharmed baby who had tape put on it's face. In several years. Or maybe not since the papers are no longer covering it as breaking front page news. 

[Pettersson]

Yes, It happened at the same Hospital.......When my 2 girls were born, They put wrong name on birth certificate of one of them,,,,And wrong date of birth on the other.,,,They wouldn't put my name on the certificate as father because I wasn't there at the time,,,They put father unknown,,,,,I had a hell of a game getting it all changed

I wonder if it is actually a common practice to put father unknown if the birth is out of wedlock and the father is not present? And would the US Embassy have an issue with that when applying for US citizenship for the baby as long as the embassy DNA test confirms the paternity?

I can actually now comment on my own question here. Our son surprised us and arrived over a month early so the fastest plane could not have got me to the hospital in time. The hospital was willing to fill in the father's name as instructed by the mother. When we took the hospital birth papers to the municipal hall for registration, both parents had to be present or alternatively provide a notarized affidavit. The location was De La Salle hospital in Dasmarinas, Cavite.

[i am bob]

After reading all the comments and listening closely to Mike and a few others, I really doubt now if the nurse did anything wrong...  And, as Mike said in his last post, it may be several years before we know anything...  Now I really wish I had invested in that Time Travel scheme...!

 

:no:

[MikeB]

At least one, and probably more, of the nurses did wrong. After the other pictures and stories surfaced the hospital apologized and said that taping pacifiers would only be done when/if directed by a doctor's instruction. But no doctor has come forward acknowledging giving such an order. It's possible it happened once and the nurses thought they had carte blanche authority to do it as needed. The hospital apparently violated it's own policy, lied about it and was caught. I hope the investigation continues and the parents drop the lawsuit idea and concentrate on raising their child.  

[Thomas]

We all have run across medical personnel who have done something really stupid...

Yes, there are stupid handling in western hopitals too.  E g stupid Swedish hospital personel killed both my grandfathers.

1. My grandfather felt rather OK, even worked until the day before. At hospital he got stomach opened to make cancer surgery, but cancer had spread to much, so doctors didn't even try to do anything, just closed. That WASN'T the error. 

When geting stomach surgery, then we have to have diet fast so the get empty intestines. After being at surgery, the hospital gave my father NORMAL dinner direct, not making any careful ending of the fast!!!   So not odd he got volvulus and ended up in coma in intensive care... :bash:

(He woke up from the coma, but never managed to get up again, and died some later.  But kind of good for him, so he didn't die by painful cancer instead.)

2. My other grandfather, 95 years old, was part senile  (long memory functioned, but short memory didn't function at all,  when one subject was ended, he had forgot we talked about the other just minutes ago, so we never run out of subject to talk about   :dance:  His body was in rather good shape still, he could eat and dress himself, just got some assistance showering.

First they managed to break his leg in shower.  I DON'T say much about that accident.

But by that break he had to lay in bed and needed assistance with eating.  Then they choked him by feeding him to fast   :1 (103):

(But he didn't like to live anymore, so they kind of gave him a favour.)

[Medic Mike]

 

Nothing surprises me these day with maternity care in Philippines. We often bring patients into Vecenti Soto with active TB, and the nurses put them on a strecher, and put them about 2 metres from the entrance to the Critical Care pedi ward....go figure. :1 (103):  :1 (103):

 

Mike,

 

That has to be ignorance or not using their brains. Maybe that's the same thing that happened to the baby.

 

I think a lot of it is ignorance, and lack of appropriate training. Once I get the ERUF paramedics sorted, I will start working on the ED nurses.

[MikeB]

There are some updates to this strange story in today's paper. The situation is as clear as mud and far from over. The hospital admitted fault and signed a "settlement" with the unmarried parents but they're still free to file a case and seek damages. But wait...the mother already accepted a "five figure" financial assistance settlement in May that never made it into the papers and the father claims to know nothing about it. Both sides are calling the other liars. I hope the baby in the middle of this turns out ok, a little tape on the face may be the least of it's problems.

Baby-taping case ‘settled’

Ma asked for help, Maternity deal says