Another newborn dies in K.H.M.H.

Thirteen babies died at the Karl Heusner Memorial Hospital in the first three weeks of May. An independent investigation by PAHO found that the babies were infected with the enterobacter cloacae. No one has taken responsibility and tonight, there is another disturbing report that a premature baby died at the hospital over the weekend. The parents of the child, a couple from San Antonio, Toledo, say they were assured that their newborn was healthy but on Sunday, they were informed that their baby died. Jose Sanchez spoke to both mother and father and has this report.

Elvira Ack, Mourning Loss of Newborn

“This is my first pregnancy. I was happy to hear my baby was ok and now that’s sad news that my baby died. I don’t know where they put me. All the while they tell me everything was okay.”

Jose Sanchez

“And this is the reason why you are lying down…you are feeling very depressed about it?”

Elvira Ack

“Yes because I expected to come home with my baby. I see my baby and she was okay; everything was okay.”

Though she was due on August eighteenth, thirty year old Elvira Ack, a San Antonio Villager, had a premature birth on Friday, July twelfth, at the K.H.M.H.

Elvira Ack

Elvira Ack

“The pregnancy was going good. Yes I have a sickness, arthritis, but I’ve taken it for only half of my pills. Doctors say take only half and all through my pregnancy was good; everything was good. The only problem is my blood. They tell me my blood is O-negative. That’s a problem…that’s what they tell me that that’s a problem to my baby in my pregnancy.”

Jose Sanchez

“But the ultrasound told you everything was fine. What did they tell you when you did your regular checkups?”

Elvira Ack

“That the ultrasound was good. My checkups they told me that everything is ok with my pregnancy. All of when I attend my clinic, all of it is okay.”

Jose Sanchez

“That was at the P.G. Polyclinic right?”

Elvira Ack

“Mmhmm.”

Jose Sanchez

“When did you transfer over to the K.H.M.H.?”

Elvira Ack

“I came in here just last month.”

Her husband, a farmer, has visited the Ombudsman office. But he is also uncertain as to how to proceed with the loss.

Lawrence Bol

Lawrence Bol, Mourning Loss of Newborn

“The hospital told me everything good with my baby on Friday. I was there Saturday. I went there and saw my baby at seven o’clock. At eight o’clock dehn say we have to move. My baby was healthy, she was good. I come home and when I gone back on Sunday I find she dead. And the doctor say he has no proof to tell me what my baby situation; that they have no idea; they just blank.”

Elvira Ack

“She was not ill when she was born…that was what they told me. She has nothing: dehn check the heart, they checked the lungs; everything was okay.”

Jose Sanchez

“So your baby was born alive?”

Elvira Ack

“My baby was born alive. They give me my baby after I had the surgery so when the nurse reach and dehn give me my baby and my baby start to suck.”

Jose Sanchez

“That was on the twelfth. What happened over the next few days?”

Elvira Ack

“Friday evening they told me they will take my baby to the special care and that they will bring back my baby to make I feed her. But all through Saturday they didn’t take my baby with me. And I have to go and walk way to special care and find my baby. And they don’t want me to feed and that they feed ahn already.”

Jose Sanchez

“When did they tell you your baby died?”

Elvira Ack

“It was two o’clock they walk me up on Sunday. They asked me fi I could walk and I said yes. When I check up on my baby Saturday evening, eight o’clock, I came out from there and my baby was good. She was ok, she was breathing good. She drink one ounce of milk and her weight gone up by one ounce. I come out and two o’clock in the evening, Sunday morning, they called me, I get up and gone. I never expected to hear what I heard. The doctor told me that my baby died. Two o’clock they found my baby; that her heartbeat was not beating anymore.”

Jose Sanchez

“Did they say what happened? Any explanation to you?”

Elvira Ack

“They didn’t say anything; that they are blank with the death of my daughter. The doctor told me I don’t know what to put on the death certificate. That’s what they told me.”

Jose Sanchez

“Have they given you a bill?”

“Yeah dehn give me a bill worth five hundred. I am poor. I’m a farmer and can’t handle that and worse that the baby is born. I want help.  I want justice for my baby. I want assistance.”

Jose Sanchez

“So you went to the ombudsman?”

Lawrence Bol

“Yeah I went to ombudsman and explained exactly what they told me and right now I really feel bad. It really shock me. It shock me a lot.”

K.H.M.H.’s Brenda Stuart said that the attending physician held an informative discussion with the parents. The K.H.M.H. will respond after the postmortem examination that is scheduled for Tuesday. Reporting for News Five, Jose Sanchez.