DOH 7 starts probe of 2 Cebu hospitals
A full-blown investigation will be made of two Cebu hospitals that handled a pregnant mother whose delivery on Sept. 14 ended tragically with the death of her son.
Regional Director Jaime Bernadas of the Department of Health (DOH) said he asked for a formal investigation of the Eversley Childs Sanitarium and Vicente Sotto Memorial Medical Center. Both government facilities are supervised by the DOH.
“We need to know what really happened,” he said in a press conference.
“If there were lapses, there are corresponding sanctions. Administrative proceedings can be held.”
Initial results of their fact-finding inquiry were already sent to Health Secretary Enrique Ona, he said.
Bernadas showed a referral slip dated Sept. 14 from the Eversley Child’s Sanitarium in Mandaue City which stated that 29-year-old Antonietta Torreon was being referred “for further management of a tertiary institution” for “pre-term labor (breech presentation).
The case history in the report said the baby’s fetal heart tone (FHT) “was not appreciated by Doppler ultrasound.”
“There was a high suspicion that the baby was already dead. Maybe they (Eversley Child’s Sanitarium) referred the mother to a tertiary hospital to make sure if the baby was alive,” Dr. Bernadas said.
Controversy surrounds the baby’s death whose head was almost detached at birth.
The parents, who suspect something went wrong during the delivery, earlier showed an ultrasound test conducted on Sept. 14 at the Eversley Child’s Sanitarium which showed the fetus as “alive”.
The government hospital is a level one and secondary facility with incubators to support premature newborn babies.
Fetal heart tone
Torreon expressed surprise at the report that no heart beat was detected. She said she had pre-natal check-ups twice at the Mandaue hospital with no problems.
When she arrived at the Eversley Child’s Sanitarium at 4 a.m last Sunday, Torreon said she wasn’t told by the doctor about a second ultrasound test.
“I was only informed that my baby was premature and the hospital has no incubator. That’s why I was referred to VSMMC,” she said in a phone interview.
The referral slip showed that the baby was 21 weeks old and in a breech presentation (positioned to emerge feet first).
Dr. Bernadas said a 21-week-old baby has a low chance of survival even if he is supported by incubators.
The referral slip signed by Dr. Cyrus Remugas said the mother suffered hypogastric pain and had a urinary tract infection (UTI) before delivery.
An ambulance brought the mother to VSMMC at 5 a.m. She delivered her baby at 5:24 a.m.
In a press statement, the VSMMC said the baby was already dead when the mother was admitted. The death certificate stated the cause of death as intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) secondary to cord incident.
Bernadas said “cord coil” is a complication and a common cause of delayed labor.
When the fetus is moving in the mother’s womb, the umbilical cord can coil around its neck.
The VSMMC said the baby’s body from navel to the feet was already out of the mother’s opening and a partial breech extraction was done by the resident physician.
“When you say extraction there are things to consider. If the baby is dead, you need to consider the mother’s (safety) and if the baby is alive then you need to consider both (mother and the baby),” Bernadas said.
Related Stories:
Hospital says baby ‘dead’ when mother was admitted
‘Why didn’t they tell us sooner?’
Disclaimer: The comments uploaded on this site do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of management and owner of Cebudailynews. We reserve the right to exclude comments that we deem to be inconsistent with our editorial standards.
