A WOMAN, whose second child suffocated during labor and may have brain damage, is suing the hospital in Futian District where the boy was delivered, the Southern Metropolis Daily reported yesterday.

    The 33-year-old woman, surnamed Li, went to the Futian District Women and Children Health Institute for prenatal examinations on a regular basis after she became pregnant late last year. She was brought to the hospital at around 3 a.m. and gave birth to a baby boy at noon May 1, but the baby was in critical condition after being suffocated by the umbilical cord during labor, according to the hospital. Apnea symptoms were relieved following emergency treatment.

    Li said the hospital should be held responsible as the medical staff hadn’t monitored the baby’s status effectively, but the hospital said the infant’s heartbeat had been monitored during labor.

    The hospital said Li had changed her position several times during labor, which interfered with the monitoring of the baby.

    Li said that her previous prenatal examinations at the hospital had showed that she and the baby were both in good condition. The ultrasound examination April 30 showed that the fetus’s heartbeat was 142 beats per minute, and the umbilical cord wasn’t around its neck.

    The baby’s medical records show that he was diagnosed with neonatal asphyxia. Li’s family transferred the baby to Shenzhen Children’s Hospital on May 8. The baby was “critically ill” while being hospitalized, according to the report.

    Li said the baby’s heartbeat had dropped below 120 beats per minute between 7:54 a.m. and 8:20 a.m. May 1, lower than the normal range of between 120 and 160 beats per minute. She said the hospital hadn’t given them the baby’s heartbeat monitor records from between 8:20 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., even after they had sent a lawyer to the hospital.

    “The accident occurred mainly because doctors hadn’t monitored the baby’s heartbeat for almost four hours or taken any midwifery measures to get the baby out in time,” Li said.

    She said the hospital had given her a document specifying the risks that the baby could face during labor, and that the document issued at 9 a.m. on the day she gave birth to her son had her husband’s signature. However, Li said her husband didn’t remember signing the document, and she hoped the hospital would provide surveillance footage to prove that the document had been signed by her husband.

    “If there were risks, why didn’t the hospital take any measures? Why did they ask my family to sign a document instead?” Li said.

    Li has filed a lawsuit against the hospital at Futian District People’s Court. She said the doctor at Shenzhen Children’s Hospital had told her that the baby’s intelligence and motor development would be affected, meaning he could have brain paralysis or low intelligence. (Zhang Yang)