Max Hospital case: Father refuses to take baby’s body demanding arrest of doctors

The premature baby died at a nursing home in Pitampura after battling for life for nearly a week since he was found alive on the way to be cremated by family members.

The father of a newborn who died on Wednesday refused to accept the body demanding arrest of two doctors who had allegedly declared the baby dead earlier but was later found to be alive.

Police force deployed outside Max Hospital, Shalimar Bagh, where a newborn baby was wrongly declared dead. (PTI Photo)

The premature baby died at a nursing home in Pitampura after battling for life for nearly a week since he was found alive on the way to be cremated by family members.

The baby was one of the twins – a boy and a girl -- delivered by Ashish Kumar’s wife on November 30 at Max Hospital in Shalimar Bagh. The girl was stillborn.

Kumar refused to take the body of his child, in an act of protest and demanded arrest of the errant doctors of Max Hospital allegedly involved in what is being described as a case of “medical negligence”.

“I will not take my son’s body until the two doctors are arrested,” Kumar said.

He also said he will also not get his wife, who is still admitted at Max Hospital, discharged from until they get justice.

The baby’s uncle said they will continue to protest outside Max Hospital.

A panel formed by the Delhi government to look into the case on Wednesday found the hospital guilty of not following prescribed medical norms in dealing with newborn infants.

Max Healthcare authorities released a statement on Thursday saying, “We just learnt of the sad demise of the 23-week preterm baby, who was on ventilator support.”

“Our deepest condolences are with the parents and other family members. While we understand that survival in extreme preterm births is rare, it is always painful for the parents and family. We wish them the strength to cope with their loss,” it added.

Max Healthcare had earlier said it had decided to terminate the services of two doctors allegedly involved in the case.

Aslam Khan, deputy commissioner of police (northwest), confirmed the news.

On December 2, Delhi Health Minister Satyender Jain had said the hospital’s licence could be cancelled if a probe found it guilty of medical negligence.