Baby Who Was Declared Dead and Woke up on the Way to His Funeral Has Now Died

Baby Who Was Declared Dead and Woke up on the Way to His Funeral Has Now Died
A baby boy is pictured in Amritsar, India on June 9, 2015. (Narinder Nanu/AFP/Getty Images)
John Smithies
12/6/2017
Updated:
9/25/2019

A newborn baby that was declared dead but was subsequently discovered alive in a plastic bag on the way to his funeral has now died, local media have said.

The baby boy was born prematurely on Nov. 30 at Max Hospital in Delhi, India, in a widely-reported incident in which he was originally reported as dead.

His twin, a girl, was stillborn.

It was only when the babies were being taken to their funeral that the boy’s grandfather noticed the boy was moving inside the polythene bag he was in.

The baby was taken to a different nearby hospital where he remained in critical condition and on life support, with the hospital saying he had a severe infection.

Following this, the two doctors involved at Max Hosptial, AP Mehta and Vishal Gupta, had their employment terminated, the hospital confirmed.

The “strict action” did not represent findings of fault against the physicians, they said in a statement, but are a “reflection of our commitment to higher standards of care.”

After nearly a week of treatment the baby died late on Tuesday, Dec. 5, a police spokesman told The Times of India.

A panel tasked with investigating Max Hospital found it guilty of not following prescribed medical norms in dealing with newborn infants.

The panel discovered that no electrocardiogram heart monitoring was carried out to check if the child was alive. The body was handed over to the parents without written instructions, NDTV reported.
Health Minister Satyendar Jain told Tribune India, “If the hospital is found guilty of medical negligence, then its licence can be canceled.”
The Indian Medical Association issued a warning to hospitals that the body’s metabolism can be “suspended” in cases of severe hypothermia and could protect itself against oxygen deprivation for an extended period of time, reported USA Today.
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