A shocking case of medical malpractice has come to light in Pakistan, with hospital authorities accused of mistaking a baby boy for a girl who later died. dawn According to reports, the parents took the four-day-old baby boy to Lahore’s Children’s Hospital after he fell ill. During treatment, doctors at the hospital declared the boy dead and handed over the body to his father. However, when the father took the body to his hometown Gujranwala for burial, he was shocked to find that it was a girl. The father immediately returned to the hospital with the girl’s body, claiming that he had brought the boy for treatment.
according to dawnThe incident prompted an investigation. On learning of the shocking allegations, hospital authorities launched a probe into the matter. They then discovered that the baby boy had reportedly gone “missing,” the official said.
In a formal complaint, the father detailed the events that took place, accusing the hospital of switching his son’s body with the girl’s. He called on police to bring criminal charges against the hospital management and the doctors involved, and demanded the return of his son.
Pakistan’s Punjab Health Department responded swiftly to the incident and set up an investigation committee consisting of three senior doctors from the children’s hospital. According to reports, the team was tasked with conducting a thorough investigation and submitting a detailed report to uncover the truth.
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In its findings, the committee said investigators had questioned all staff involved in the neonatal ward where the baby was treated, including doctors, nurses and paramedics, and had also examined CCTV footage.
During the investigation, the hospital claimed that the parents had taken the boy away from the hospital against medical advice, and did not explain the issue of the baby “swap.” The report also said that despite all treatment, the newborn’s condition became critical and doctors transferred him to the intensive care unit to put him on a ventilator. However, the patient’s parents refused further treatment and left the hospital with the baby after signing a “discharge against medical advice” document, the report said.
The report did not mention any allegations of baby-swapping, but police have filed an investigation report into a complaint about the alleged swapping of a baby boy with a dead baby girl by hospital staff, and the investigation is ongoing.