Max Hospital Case: Newborn Dies, Father Refuses to Take Body

NEW DELHI:
A premature baby, who was found alive after being declared dead by Max Hospital, breathed his last on Wednesday with his father refusing to take the body demanding arrest of the erring doctors.
The boy died at a nursing home in Pitampura after battling for life for nearly a week. On 30 November, Ashish Kumar’s wife gave birth to premature twins (boy and girl) at Max hospital in Shalimar Bagh. Both the babies were declared stillborn by the hospital and handed over to the family allegedly in a polythene bag. But to their utter horror, the family found that the boy was still alive, while they were on way to do their final rites.
The family rushed the baby to a nearby nursing home in Pitampura, while the mother remained at Max Hospital as she was very weak. Max Healthcare authorities on Wednesday released a statement saying, “We just learnt of the sad demise of the 23-week preterm baby, who was on ventilator support.”
“Our deepest condolences are with the parents and other family members. While we understand that survival in extreme preterm births is rare, it is always painful for the parents and family. We wish them the strength to cope with their loss,” it added.
Aslam Khan, deputy commissioner of police (northwest), also confirmed the news. However, Kumar has refused to take the body of his child, in an act of protest and demanded that the doctors of Max Hospital allegedly involved in the “medical negligence” in the case be arrested.
“I will not take my son’s body until the two doctors are arrested,” Kumar said.
He also said he will also not get his wife, who is still admitted at Max Hospital, discharged from until they get justice. The baby’s uncle said that they will continue to protest outside Max Hospital.
A panel formed by the Delhi government to look into the case on Tuesday found Max Hospital guilty of not following prescribed medical norms in dealing with newborn infants. On 2 December, Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain had said the hospital’s licence could be cancelled if a probe found it guilty of medical negligence.
Max Healthcare on 4 December had said that it had decided to terminate the services of two doctors allegedly involved in the case.