It’s clear by now that the use of pacifiers on newborns, and having them taped to their mouths, is more common than it appears in the Cebu Puericulture Center and Maternity House.
Baby Yohannes is not an “isolated case”.
The proof is emerging, not just in the parents’ persistent account of finding their son with lips covered with adhesive tape, but in photos that are authentic, checked for digital manipulation.
Baby girl Blaire, the first born of another single mother who delivered in the same hospital three moths earlier, has pushed her own truth in social media.
The documentation isn’t just a set of photos but a two-minute video, also taken with a mother’s handy cellphone-camera.
If the young mother, who is just as educated and articulate as the first mother Janice Badocdoc, will seal her account in a sworn statement, there’s a big legal battle ahead for the hospital, considering the revelation that she thought it was “normal protocol” of the hospital because she saw two or three more babies in the nursery, similarly taped up.
Will the maternity hospital wait for other mothers to come forward?
Or shouldn’t the board of directors of the venerable 91-year-old institution start holding accountable the managers and supervisors, who have allowed this subculture of unprofessional conduct to flourish?
It’s tough now for the hospital to keep up its absolute denial that pacifiers and face tape are prohibited and not found in the nursery.
In yesterday’s hearing, it was pathetic to watch one nurse demonstrate to the investigating panel how they do it “properly.”
Nurse Kamille Neri described how they apply tape on the upper lips or the lower lips of a baby, but not both, to “anchor” a pacifier.
An important distinction was made.
The nurses act when they are given an order or request from the attending physician to use the pacifier. The inquiry should then scale up to the professional conduct of pediatricians and other doctors who order this regimen.
The World Health Organization says pacifiers dont belong in a breastfeeding, baby-mother-friendly facility.
It would be unfair to lay complete blame on the nurses, who follow what they are told to do and adapt to the “norms” of their environment.
There is command responsiblility involved.
A call must be made now before other helpless babies are placed in the silent control of a nursery system that doesn’t allow them to cry for their mothers.