Twin baby case: Delhi Police files final report after two years
Delhi Police has filed a final report in a case involving an upscale private hospital in northwest Delhi's Shalimar Bagh which had wrongly declared a baby boy dead after birth, almost two years after the matter was reported. The baby boy was wrongly declared dead by the facility after his birth on November 30. However, he was found alive when his parents were taking his "body" for the last rites. He was then admitted to a nursing home in Pitampura, where he died a week later. His twin, a girl, was still-born.
The twins were delivered at 23 weeks of pregnancy. Initially, the district police was probing the matter but it was transferred to the crime branch on December 6, the day the baby boy died at the nursing home in Pitampura. The Crime Branch had sought medical opinion from the Delhi Medical Council (DMC) in the matter.
As per the findings of the DMC and the investigation conducted, it was drawn that the DMC did not find any medical negligence in the case. However, it had recorded "instances of procedural lapses and inadequate documentation".
Investigation in the case also revealed "procedural lapses, inadequate documentation and contradictions in the statement of persons concerned," the 22-page report said.
According to the report filed last month, the doctors of the hospital stated that the family members of the twins were counselled about the baby's condition. However, during investigation, documentation of the contents of the counselling was not found.
No formal admission of the baby boy of the woman, delivered at 7:30 am on November 30, 2017 was made till he was declared dead, the DMC had said.
The doctors who delivered the baby stated that they had handed over the babies to pediatrician doctors, who provided only comfort care to the baby boy as the family members were not in a position to spend huge money required to save the life of the child, it added.
During investigation, no formal declaration of the death of the baby boy was found, the report said.
During interrogation, one of the doctors told police that he was informed by another doctor who was looking after the two babies that he had found both the twin babies had been kept in the same warmer, which was switched off and the babies were cold to touch.
However, during investigation, police found contradiction between the statement of staff nurses and doctors, the report said. The DMC report had said there is a presence of procedural lapses and inadequate documentation which is probably due to the absence of standard operating guidelines when managing such cases.
The report concluded that the decision for management of the baby was as per the existing guidelines by the treating doctors and that no medical negligence can be attributed on the part of the doctors of the hospital in the treatment administered in the case.
During interrogation, the two doctors who were treating the baby boy gave contradictory statements and shifted responsibility on each other regarding declaring the baby boy dead, the report mentioned.
From the investigation conducted so far, the allegation levelled by the complainant and his family members could not be substantiated except some procedural laps and inadequate documentation and contradiction in the statements of the two doctors, the report said.
The names of the two doctors were forwarded to the court in column No. 12 as " not chargesheeted" along with all the evidence, documents collected and statements recorded during the investigation, it added.
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