Italy
Mother falls asleep while breastfeeding in hospital and suffocates her newborn – hospitals are criticized
After the death of an infant, criticism of the state of Italy’s hospitals increases (symbolic photo)
The tragic death of a newborn shook the whole country. Now calls for consequences are being made in Italy – above all, there is a lack of sufficient staff in the hospitals.
A newborn died in a clinic in Rome earlier this year. Its mother, still exhausted after a 17-hour delivery, breastfed it and fell asleep in the meantime. After waking up, the baby was dead. Apparently, the mother unintentionally rolled onto the baby while she was sleeping and suffocated it. When the staff took stock of the situation, resuscitation measures were rushed but were unsuccessful.
The death of the baby is now also national. On the one hand, the public prosecutor’s office is now investigating the exact circumstances of his death, on the other hand, political demands are being made for a fundamental reform of the Italian hospital system. Above all, the staffing needs to be realigned.
Italy’s maternity wards are facing a structural problem
In the hours before, the mother had contacted the nurses several times at the Sandro Pertini hospital in Rome and asked for help. She herself is so exhausted that she cannot take care of the little one enough, summarizes the Italian publication “La Repubblica”. However, she was ignored and not helped.
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On day three after the birth, she was asked to breastfeed her child. Then came the deadly tragedy. Compared to the “Italy 24 Press” portal, the person concerned describes what happened in the moments after waking up: “Suddenly, in the middle of the night, I was woken up by the nurses. The baby was no longer in bed with me. Without a word to change me, they let me get up and took me to a nearby room: there they informed me that the baby was dead. I don’t remember that a psychologist was present, nor that they gave me a more in-depth explanation. I’m sure you didn’t tell me exactly how it happened. I didn’t understand anything anymore, everything collapsed on me. Maybe I even fainted.”
The public prosecutor’s office intervened first. She wanted to check whether the hospital staff acted negligently or intentionally. The family has now also consulted a lawyer who is supposed to clarify possible misconduct on the part of those involved.
In addition to possible individual errors on the part of the nursing staff in the hospital, a structural problem also comes into focus. Questionable conditions could also be the order of the day in other Italian maternity wards. According to the British “Guardian”, the Italian Ministry of Health ordered a report on the incident. Earlier, a petition for more checks and better postpartum support garnered more than 100,000 signatures by Wednesday.
Dozens of mothers have shared their experiences of being “abandoned” after childbirth, while unions have lamented staff shortages. A situation that has been exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the local health authority responsible for the Sandro Pertini hospital said it would cooperate with the investigation. The authority rejected allegations of inadequate care after birth and denied to the “Guardian” that there was a shortage of staff in the department.
Sources: “Guardians”, RTL, “La Republica” (paid content), Italy 24 Press