AFTER eight prenatal examinations, doctors still failed to detect a baby’s facial deformity before she was recently delivered, which has cast a shadow over her family, a Shenzhen TV program recently reported.

    The newborn’s mother, 26, surnamed Lin, found out that she was pregnant earlier this year and has undergone prenatal examinations as advised at Futian People’s Hospital since February.

    On Aug. 26, Lin gave birth to a baby girl, only to find that the newborn had suffered serious facial deformation. The baby girl has only one eye and one nostril.

    Lin has suffered from postpartum depression after learning about her daughter’s deformity, her family said.

    She said that she had taken extra care because it was her first pregnancy, and had come in to the hospital for eight prenatal examinations as instructed by doctors.

    At one of the five ultrasound examinations, Lin was told that the right side of the infant’s face was covered by her own arm, but everything was normal.

    According to Lin, she had taken medication for colds while pregnant, which made her believe that hers was a high risk pregnancy.

    Lin said that the hospital should have given her extra care as a high-risk expectant mother.

    The hospital responded that they would still require a third-party institution to evaluate whether Lin’s pregnancy was high risk. The hospital also promised that it would take responsibility if the hospital were to blame.

    (Zhang Qian)