A Hong Kong public hospital has denied malpractice or negligence after a full-term baby died during labour, with the mother ending up in intensive care following haemorrhage and infection due to an emergency caesarean.
A man said on Facebook on Tuesday that his 41-week baby girl had died during labour at Tuen Mun hospital last Friday, more than 10 hours after his wife’s labour was induced.
Tuen Mun Hospital. File photo: GovHK.
According to the man, his wife suffered from severe pain as her contractions became stronger and more frequent from around 5.30 pm last Friday. It was not until around 8 pm that a nurse conducted a check-up, confirming the baby’s heartbeat was normal.
The man said he left the ward at 8.30 pm, when visiting hours ended. Later, three doctors told him that the baby’s heartbeat had stopped and there was nothing they could do to save the baby.
At the doctors’ advice, his wife tried to deliver the deceased foetus naturally. The man said his wife was in a great deal pain but she was not given anaesthesia until midnight last Sunday. By then, his wife had developed a fever and the doctors said there was risk of continuing labour.
File photo: Unsplash.
The woman underwent a caesarean section, which lasted a few hours, and was later admitted to the Intensive Care Unit due to haemorrhage and infection during the surgery.
“Afterwards the nurse took me to have a look at the baby girl who died before birth, and I don’t know how to face my wife… I don’t believe that the series of unexpected incidents can be attributed solely to unfortunate and unexplained reasons,” the man wrote in Chinese. “Was there no human negligence at all, or an absence of on-site professional judgement, or were the guidelines too rigid and dogmatic? “
The man also questioned why medics did not provide continuous foetal heart monitoring after his wife suffered severe pain during contractions but showed no sign of active labour, which he considered abnormal.
‘Appropriate care’
In an emailed response to HKFP on Thursday, a spokesperson from Tuen Mun Hospital said the incident had not involved any medical malpractice.
“After a preliminary review of the case, the hospital believes the medical team provided appropriate care during the delivery process, and the serious complications that occurred did not involve medical malpractice,” the spokesperson said in Chinese.
“The hospital hopes the patient and family understand that delivery can involve serious complications that pose risks to both mother and foetus, potentially resulting in death, and the cause of serious complications cannot always be immediately determined clinically.”
Nurses working at a Hong Kong public hospital. File photo: The Hospital Authority.
The spokesperson did not specify what the complications might be.
According to the hospital, the patient was admitted to last Thursday when she was 41 weeks pregnant. She was prescribed labour inducing medication last Friday morning, and medics checked the foetal heartbeat three times – at 9.35 am, 3 pm, and 4.55 pm – all of which were reported as normal readings.
At 8.10 pm, medics performed a vaginal examination and checked the foetal heartbeat and reported everything normal, though there were no signs of active labour. Another check-up was performed at 8.35 pm, with the same results, according to the hospital.
However, at 9.30 pm, staff discovered abnormalities during another examination and immediately arranged for a doctor to perform an ultrasound, which confirmed there was no foetal heartbeat.
The spokesperson said the hospital would keep in touch with the patient and her family, and would provide assistance if the family wanted to look into reasons behind the death of their baby by examining the body of the foetus.
