This led Health authorities to investigate the hospital medical team for mistakenly diagnosing a stillbirth and disposing of a baby that was alive.
The incident occurred in October 26. According to the statement, Liu Dongmei - 8 months pregnant - had been rushed to the hospital with internal bleeding and stomach cramps. She later had an emergency birth, but the baby was neither breathing nor crying after leaving the womb and its skin had turned purple.
The medical team responsible for the said patient believed the baby to be dead, and they dispose the child but did not follow proper hospital procedures. They also told the family that the baby was a girl.
According to a Foshan News report, a local website, Liu's sister-in-law asked to see the body around 30 minutes after birth, she was handed a yellow plastic bag containing the infant and found it was still alive.
"I opened the plastic bag and saw the baby's hands and feet moving, the stomach was going up and down and air bubbles were coming out of his mouth," the paper quoted her as saying.
She was further shocked when she saw the baby was a boy, not a girl as the family had been told, it said.
Apparently, nurses had told the family that the child was a girl in an effort to blunt the blow of its death.
It's worth noting that in China, baby boys are often viewed as more precious than girls, as many families can have only one child as part of the nation's population control policy and desire a male heir.
Following the discovery. the family rebuke the nurses and demanded medical attention. The newborn was rushed to the intensive care where he remains in a stable condition.
Afterwards, the hospital's relevant officials admitted that the doctor involved did not use any instruments to determine the gender and vitality of the baby, and had only made a judgment in accordance with his experience.
China's healthcare system was once widely praised for improving the health of millions, but now, it is panned as costly, underfunded and providing shoddy treatment, especially in poorer regions.
Liu and her husband are seeking to sue the hospital for 300,000 yuan ($45,000), the Beijing News said.
The head of the maternity ward, a doctor and two nurses have been suspended pending the results of the investigation.
The family of the baby also filmed the nurses as they clean the baby who was still inside the plastic bag.
It is also worth noting that the baby who was inside the yellow plastic had been actually dumped in the toilet/bathroom as if it's some kind of garbage.
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