Parents discover prem 'stillborn' daughter alive in morgue coffin 12hrs after birth

[Marv]

http://news.sky.com/home/strange-news/article/16206200

An investigation has begun after an apparently stillborn baby girl was found alive - 12 hours after she was placed in a coffin for burial.

The parents of the girl, who was born three months premature, say they found she was still breathing when they went to the local morgue to say goodbye.

Analia Bouter said she never got a chance to look at her baby after the birth because she had been sedated by staff at the hospital in Chaco, northern Argentina.

"At the time of birth I don't remember much because I was put to sleep," she said.

"Rather, they never showed me the baby."

Born at 10.24am, the infant was taken directly to the morgue after aparently being declared dead.

Mrs Bouter and her husband, Fabian Veron, later visited the morgue where they say they forced open the tiny coffin to look at their daughter.

"The baby was there and they put the little casket on a stretcher. We looked for a bar to prise it open. The casket was nailed shut," Mr Veron said.

"I started to prise, took a deep breath and took the top off. My wife was the first one to look at the body and she uncovered it slowly.

"She saw the little hand and then uncovered the face. That's when it let the first little cry out.

"My wife jumped back, like saying, 'This must be my imagination'."

The baby girl, born a week ago, was reported to be in stable condition on Tuesday.

The parents had originally planned on naming her Liliana Abigail but have instead called her Luz Milagros - which means Miracle's Light.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...hrs-later.html

Medics at Perrando de Resistencia Hospital in Chaco province had told Analia her baby, who was three months premature, was still born and had no pulse. Then they told her she had died shortly after birth because she was too small to survive. Analia was sedated during the labour.

She and her husband then headed home with a death certificate before deciding to return to see their daughter’s body.

The casket was nailed shut but they prised it open only to find their baby breathing and stretching inside.

When the tiny tot, likened to a “bottle of ice” after 12 hours in a refrigerated drawer, let out a cry Analia said: “I fell to my knees.

“We went to the morgue, and they showed us the casket nailed closed. We wanted to take a photo of our daughter.

“My husband managed to open the drawer, where we found her wrapped in a white sheet and saw her tiny hand touch her face. We heard a cry and she was alive.

“She spent 12 hours in the freezing cold of that morgue. I saw for myself the ice on her body."
[...]

Rafael Sabatinelli, the province’s deputy health secretary, described the situation on Tuesday last week as “unfortunate”.

The medical staff involved have been suspended while officials investigate.

Hospital's director Jose Luis Meirino said hypothermia could have slowed her vital signs.

He said: “At the moment we have no explanation. The baby was attended to by obstetricians, gynaecologists and a neonatologist. They all reached the same conclusion, that this girl was stillborn.”

[kniption]

Wow. Amazing.

[Jerri Blank]

"I started to prise, took a deep breath and took the top off. My wife was the first one to look at the body and she uncovered it slowly. "She saw the little hand and then uncovered the face. That's when it let the first little cry out.

Awh! It was like she was asking to be saved to her parents, this just made my heart sink :-(

Rafael Sabatinelli, the province’s deputy health secretary, described the situation on Tuesday last week as “unfortunate”.

Woah what a understatement! When you cut your finger on a envelope your about to mail or fall out of your car when you try to exit is "unfortunate" not this heinous misdiagnosis, geez!

[princessgrandma]

I cannot even imagine. You can believe what you want, but I'd like to think that there was some divine intervention that made them pry open that nailed-shut coffin. What are the odds that they might not even do that? They'd never have known their little angel was still alive and she'd have suffocated in the coffin eventually. What a horrible thought.

[Tundratot]

The casket was nailed shut but they prised it open only to find their baby breathing and stretching inside.

When the tiny tot, likened to a “bottle of ice” after 12 hours in a refrigerated drawer, let out a cry Analia said: “I fell to my knees.

“We went to the morgue, and they showed us the casket nailed closed. We wanted to take a photo of our daughter.

“My husband managed to open the drawer, where we found her wrapped in a white sheet and saw her tiny hand touch her face. We heard a cry and she was alive.

“She spent 12 hours in the freezing cold of that morgue. I saw for myself the ice on her body."

How devastating. To think she would have died in the dark, cold, alone. Just scary as hell. So, so lucky that her parents wanted that last piece of closure and went to see her.

[AngelFire]

I have goosebumps all over my body. What a gift to see her breathing but I would have fainted I think. I love, love the name Abigail

[newstarshipsmell]

Yeah, this could be a miracle...

... or the beginning of the zombie apocalypse.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A premature baby who survived hours in a morgue refrigerator after being mistakenly declared dead showed "slight improvement" Saturday after suffering from cardiac arrest, her mother said.

"They started to feed her my milk through a tube," Analia Bouter, 29, told the Argentine news agency Telam.
[...]

Bouter told Telam that she was able to hold her daughter in her arms for the first time Friday.

"That's very important for the recovery," she said, adding that the baby was showing "slight improvement" in her breathing after suffering a cardiac arrest earlier this week and showing signs of pulmonary and gastrointestinal bleeding.

From now on, the mother will be able to hold her baby, who weighed just 1.76 pounds at birth, for a few minutes each day while Luz Milagros remains in the neonatal intensive care unit.
[...]

An investigation has been launched to determine who was responsible for mistakenly pronouncing the baby dead. The authorities are investigating the midwife and gynecologist who handled the birth, along with other doctors at the public hospital.

The hospital's director Jose Luis Meirino said the baby was likely able to survive because she "suffered hypothermia, during which the body went into hibernation and stopped its vital signs."

http://www.timescolonist.com/health/...217/story.html

A premature baby who survived hours in a morgue refrigerator in Argentina was in "very serious" condition after doctors detected an infection, state media reported.

The infection could compromise Luz Milagros Veron's neurological system and kidney function, the Telam news agency reported Thursday.
[...]

Every, doctor, nurse and morgue worker who dealt with the baby at the hospital has been suspended as an investigation gets underway, officials said.

"There was an error of medical protocol. This is about human error," said Francisco Baquero, Chaco province's health minister, according to Telam.

Provincial officials provided compensation to the family Thursday, Telam reported, including cell phones, an economic subsidy, a motorcycle and transportation assistance.

Earlier this week, the hospital's director told CNN proper protocol had been followed.

The baby had no vital signs when she was born, hospital director Dr. Jose Luis Meirino told CNN.

The gynecologist on hand didn't find any signs of life, so he passed the baby to a neonatal doctor who also didn't find vital signs, Meirino said.

The doctors observed the baby for a while, and only then, pronounced her dead.

Two morgue workers then put her body inside a little wooden coffin and placed it in the morgue.

"Up to that point, there were still no vital signs," the hospital director said.
[...]

http://www.cnn.com/2012/04/13/world/...vor/index.html

[Silvahalo]

"slight improvement". I hope baby makes it. She is such a miraculous little one!

Hard to wrap my mind around how the parents must have felt. . . how she made it is truly spectacular. 3 different sets of docs checked her out and nothing, that is crazy. Granted it I'd be very upset in that mother's place but sometimes things can't be known and this just seems like a miracle, they found no life on her.

Praying hoping that infection clears up and she thrives. I'd want baby on my chest, bare, skin,to skin contact. That skin touch and heart beat does amazing things for little wee babies.
Grow strong and live, Luz Milagros.

[VAS1326]

I agree with Princessgrandma. I believe in some sort of destiny/fate and that led those parents to go back to see the baby. Had they simply accepted it and walked away she could have been burried alive. There was a reason they went back to see her one last time. I'm praying she somehow pulls through all this. I mean she was in a nailed shut coffin in a refridgerator for 12 hours (being premie she probably doesn't have a lot of body fat to keep her warm) and still made it out alive.

If nothing else the mother got to hold her baby and if she does pass away at least it won't be alone in a cold box but with her loving parents by her side snuggly wrapped in a blanket. I do hope though that this miracle baby can make it. She's already come so far in her short little life.

[Dakota Valkyrie]

An Argentine baby who was mistakenly declared dead and whose parents found her breathing in the morgue 12 hours later has survived her first month of life, weighing in at just under 1 kilo (2.2 pounds).

Luz Milagros -- whose middle name means miracles in Spanish -- is still hospitalized and her condition is serious but stable. She is getting breast milk and slowly getting stronger, hospital officials in the northern Chaco province said.

"I'm thankful that we are still here, day by day, and it's been a month now," the infant's mother, Analia Bouter, said on Thursday.

"I talk to her, and then she starts to move. She hears well and knows who I am. I have a particular way of touching her so she knows who I am," Bouter told reporters.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47314521.../#.T6bQysWDmSo

[Tundratot]

This is really wonderful news! THank you, DV.

[JGo555]

I have a friend named Luz Milagros.

I must make sure she is still 30yr old & married & not a baby.

We call her Luzmi for short.

I don't think she was this miraculous when she was born though.

[Starbuck]

Stupid frakkin people. But, go baby!! Grow strong and live a long happy healthy life!!