Rajasthan: Baby's Head Left Inside Womb During Botched Delivery, Nurses Suspended

In an incident of careless baby delivery at a hospital in Rajasthan, the nurse in action pulled so hard that the baby’s head remained inside the woman’s body while the rest of the body was pulled out. Instead of helping the woman, the male nurse, along with his colleague, attempted to cover up the event. The incident took place at a government health care centre in Ramgarh. The incident occurred on January 6.

Reportedly, two male nurses, who were involved in the case were suspended while Nikhil Sharma, the in-charge at Ramgarh community healthcare centre was removed from active duty. The government has sought an enquiry report within one week.

The incident

Following the failed delivery, the baby’s body was disposed of by a male nurse Amrit Lal, and his colleague Jhujhaar Singh, in the mortuary. None of them informed anyone what had happened, and while the baby’s head was left inside the woman’s body, they instead asked her family to take her to Jodhpur for further medical care. According to NDTV, during the delivery which was “difficult”, the position of the foetus was tricky.

The family took the woman to Jodhpur’s Umaid Hospital, and when the doctors there found the baby’s head in the woman’s womb, they informed her family. Dikhsha Kanwar, the mother, is now fighting for her life in the hospital in Jodhpur, reported Hindustan Times, but her condition is currently stable. The two male nurses now have a case registered against them, however, they have not yet been arrested.

According to Dr Nikhil Sharma, who is in charge of the healthcare centre in Ramgarh, since the two nurses could not find him at the time of the delivery, they carried it out themselves. While the nurses have been suspended, the doctor has been removed from active duty.

Sub-inspector and investigating officer of the case, Jalam Singh, said that Dikhsha’s husband Tilok Bhati, has lodged a complaint against the two nurses, alleging that both of them were drunk at the time of the delivery.

“When questioned, the hospital staffers handed over the lower part of the foetus to us,” he said. “No arrest has been made so far,” Jalam Singh said.

What the autopsy revealed

In the autopsy, it was revealed that during the attempted delivery by the two nurses, the baby’s legs broke and his liver ruptured.

“In order to bring the baby out, the nursing staff applied so much force that it not only broke into two parts but also caused multiple fractures in legs and liver got burst. We also have carried out a floating test of lungs which revealed that the baby was dead,” said Dr Surendra Duggar, who conducted the postmortem examination at Jaisalmer’s Jawahar Government Hospital. However, the specific reason for the baby’s death could not be ascertained, said a report by Hindustan Times.

According to Dr Usha Duggad from the same hospital, she has never come across a case like this in her career of 30 years. As Dikhsha’s family called for the arrest of the two male nurses, they refused to bury the body. They have been assured that strict action will be taken.

“In this incident, the kind of birth that was going to take place was a breech birth, in which the the baby’s body comes first and then the head. Normally, it is the opposite. The head comes first and then the body, and in this case, women might as well give birth to the baby without anybody’s help. But during breech delivery, only expert doctors can carry out the process. In fact, we gynecologists suggest a cesarean delivery in these cases. In the hands of an untrained nurse, what has happened is not very uncommon. In my career of 40 years, most of which I have spent treating people in rural areas, I have heard of such cases. I am not saying it is very common, but it is not the rarest of the rare case either. It is only natural that too strong a pull during a breech delivery can decapitate the baby. This is an extremely unfortunate incident, but we cannot blame the nurses alone. The system should rather be blamed. The entire system should have ensured that they knew what kind of birth it was going to be, and accordingly appointed a doctor. It is also possible that the mother was callous and did not go for a checkup to ascertain the kind of delivery it was supposed to be. Since I am not aware of the situation in the hospital, I cannot elaborate,” said gynecologist Sanjib Mukhopadhyay, ex-president of The Bengal Obstetrics and Gynecological Society, in conversation with The Logical Indian.

In a case as unfortunate as this, it is hard to blame just one person. The nurses are to blame not just because of the callous delivery, because they were untrained. They are to be blamed more because they fled instead of helping the woman. In case the doctor in charge was really unavailable and the untrained nurses were hence forced to carry out the delivery, the system is to be blamed. It should have been ensured that an experienced doctor was present at the right place at the right time. The Logical Indian hopes that a positive change is brought about in the system and that a human life is treated with the maximum care.

Also read: Broken Catheter Pieces Left Inside Patient, Hospital Ordered To Pay Rs 5 Lakh For Medical Negligence