This is a rare and dramatic case reported by La Voix du Nord on July 26th. Monday, July 24, 2017, an eight-month pregnant woman is admitted to the Duchenne Hospital of Boulogne-sur-Mer (Hauts-de-France) for a medical termination of pregnancy (IMG). Ten days earlier, an MRI had detected a severe brain malformation in his unborn child.
"We were told that our child had 80% of the brain that was not working.The doctors said that the baby would be paralyzed and that he could not drink or eat," says the mother to the newspaper *.
The decision to terminate the pregnancy is then made by mutual agreement between the parents and the medical team and funerals are even organized in the process.
On the day of IMG, a double dose is injected into the baby via his umbilical cord to stop his heart. The doctors notice his death and start the delivery a few hours later.
The mother, who is supposed to give birth to a dead infant, hears her screaming. "The baby is alive, it cries, eats and moves, we do not understand what could have happened and we have no explanation from the hospital," says the father daily.
No "medical errors" according to hospital management
"It's rare, but it happens," said Dr. Pierre Ducq, chairman of the medical committee of Duchenne Hospital, La Voix Du Nord.
He also considers that "there have been no medical errors". The mother and the newborn are currently hospitalized at the CHU Lille and the latter does not suffer from any sequelae due to IMG.
"After this sudden birth, I can not pronounce on his future in the short or long term.There have already been similar cases where the child was unfortunately dead shortly after," says the chairman of the medical commission of the Duchenne hospital
An internal investigation is opened to shed light on the circumstances of this dysfunction, certainly exceptional, but with dramatic consequences for the family. In addition, the Regional Health Agency, also alerted, must decide on the establishment or not of an administrative investigation.
* www.lavoixdunord.fr/197019/article/2017-07-26/drame-l-hopital-ou-un-enfant-nait-malgre-une-interruption-medicale-de-grossesse
