Hospital probes how mums got wrong babies
The Southern Health Board is investigating how the boys, born within five hours of each other, ended up spending a whole day with the wrong mother in St Finbarr's Hospital in Cork, The mix-up was discovered when one of the mums, 22-year old Teresa McGrath, noticed the number on the child's tag did not match her own. She said when she pointed this out to the nurse, she offered to cut the tag off. The nurse's actions are also under investigation.
"I saw the number on the tag was different. I called the nurse and she said he was my baby and she would cut his tag. Then I noticed all his tags were different. I didn't know if I had the right baby," Ms McGrath said.
Her worst fears were realised when it was discovered another woman was actually breast-feeding Teresa's son and both women who had the same surname had been given the wrong baby early that morning. Both women were eventually reunited with their sons at 11pm. Teresa, from Mitchelstown, Co Cork, gave birth to her son, Marcus, on Tuesday evening at 7.45pm. Another baby boy was born four-and-a-half hours later with the same surname. The babies were placed in the hospital's nursery overnight and the next morning both mums were handed babies by staff. But both mums immediately noticed changes in their sons.
"I thought he had more hair and his nose was different, but it was my first baby and I really didn't know what to expect. I was feeling strange holding him," Teresa said. Teresa spent the whole day withthe baby. But then she noticed after his feed at 10pm that the tags were different and alertednurses mix-up. We have pictures of another child having his first bath andof what we thought was our own son. We can never get that time back," Teresa said.
General manger of the Cork University Hospital group Tony McNamara said: This has been very distressing for everyone involved, including the staff. Both babies were tagged properly and put into the correct cots but the wrong baby was picked up. This is just human error. We will be looking at all hospital procedures and hopefully we can learn from this," Mr McNamara added. He expects the investigation to be completed early next week. Teresa is now seeking a DNA test. "I am 99% sure I have my own baby now, but I want to be 100% sure," she said.
