A premature baby who was pronounced stillborn, put in the morgue, and then discovered moving and breathing five hours later died on Tuesday and was buried the same day.
Since the baby's death, a leading Jerusalem neonatologist has shed new light on the situation, completely contradicting the hospital director's claims that this was a "medical miracle." According to Arthur Eidelman, the baby, named Bana Hiba, did not die and come back to life, as doctors at the Western Galilee Hospital asserted. Rather, babies who are that premature--Bana Hiba was in the 23rd week of gestation--have very irregular heartbeats, sometimes going for as long as five minutes without exhibiting any sign of respiration.
Given this, Eidelman said that premature babies who appear to be stillborn should be left in the delivery room for 20 minutes and closely monitored for signs of life. If there is no heartbeat after 20 minutes, the baby is pronounced dead. Putting live fetuses in the cooler, he said, slows down their metabolism so that they are in a state of "suspended animation." Doctors even do this intentionally sometimes to try to save premies.
So even if gynecologists were too quick to pronounce Bana Hiba dead, their actions were certainly not to blame for the baby's death. However, they may be to blame for putting her parents on a heartbreaking emotional roller coaster.
Both the Health Ministry and the hospital are conducting investigations into the sad case.
Photo: Channel 2
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