A mother in Argentina says she fell to her knees in shock after finding her baby alive in a coffin in the morgue nearly 12 hours after the girl had been declared dead.
Analia Bouter named her newborn Luz Milagros, or “Miracle Light.” The tiny girl, born three months premature, was in critical but improving condition on Wednesday in the same hospital where the staff pronounced her stillborn on April 3.
The case became public on Tuesday when Rafael Sabatinelli, the Deputy Health Minister in the northern province of Chaco, announced in a news conference that five medical professionals involved have been suspended pending an official investigation.
Ms. Bouter said the baby was quickly put in a coffin and taken to the morgue's refrigeration room. Twelve hours passed before she and her husband were able to open the coffin to say their last goodbyes.
She said that is when the baby trembled. She thought it was her imagination then she realised the little girl was alive and dropped to her knees on the morgue floor in shock.
“I moved the coverings aside and saw the tiny hand, with all five fingers, and I touched her hand and then uncovered her face,” she said in an interview. “That's where I heard a tiny little cry. I told myself I was imagining it… it was my imagination. And then I stepped back and saw her waking up. It was as if she was saying ‘Mama, you came for me!'
A morgue worker quickly picked up the girl and confirmed she was alive. Then, Ms. Bouter's brother grabbed the baby and ran to the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit, shouting for the doctors. The baby was so cold, Ms. Bouter said, “it was like carrying a bottle of ice.”
She says the family plans to sue the staff at Hospital Perrando in the city of Resistencia for malpractice, and still wants answers. But they've been focused for now on their little girl, whom she described as amazingly healthy despite being born after just 26 weeks of gestation. So far, she had not needed oxygen or other support commonly provided to preemies, she said.
