Another case of botched delivery?

Firoze Dadan and his wife Zareena’s joy of having a second child was short-lived after the newborn died at Wadia Maternity Home in Parel. The Dadans have accused the doctors of being negligent.

Dadan, 35, lodged a non-cognizable offence at the Bhoiwada police station on Wednesday alleging that there were no senior doctors around when his wife went into labour. He also alleged that the doctors never informed them that the baby was in a breech position.

In their complaint, they have blamed a senior lecturer and junior doctors of her unit for the death. Dadan alleged that junior doctors had pulled the baby so hard when his wife went into labour last Tuesday that the baby got strangulated. “The baby’s head got stuck and the child could not breathe,” he said. Dadan is the secretary of Bombay Youth Congress.

Senior doctor apparently came in only when the juniors had complicated the case. “The senior doctor came running out of the labour room and said the baby’s life was in danger,” he said. “She then insisted that I should sign on a white paper permitting the doctors to carry out a caesarean section on my wife.”

“After a while they took the baby to a neonatologist and later declared the baby dead,” he said.

The hospital cited infection as the cause of death. “I was told by the doctors that blood
and amniotic fluid had entered the child’s body, which led to an infection,” he said.

The hospital, however, refuted the allegations. “The couple was shown the sonography reports at least a week before the incident. Dadan was told that his wife would have to go for a caesarean because the baby was in a breech position,” said Dr Adi Dastur, dean of Wadia Maternity Home. And the entire procedure was carried out by a senior doctor, he said. “Junior doctors may make the preparations but surgeries are always
performed by senior doctors.”