A hospital in northeast Argentina has temporarily suspended five medical professionals after a newborn declared dead was found alive in the morgue. Chaco province health officials have launched an investigation into the incident.
“I don't have an explanation for what happened, but if there is culpability we'll see what we'll do," deputy secretary of health Rafael Sabatinelli tells CNN.
The baby girl was born 3 months premature on April 3 to Analia Bouguet and Fabian Veron. Doctors at Perrando Hospital didn’t find vital signs and declared her stillborn. The baby was placed in a coffin, which was sealed shut and stored in the morgue.
"At the moment we have no explanation," says hospital director Jose Luis Meirino. "The baby was attended to by obstetricians, gynecologists and a neonatologist. They all reached the same conclusion, that this girl was stillborn."
Bouguet discovered her daughter alive when she went to visit her body in the morgue 12 hours later. “We wanted to take a photo of our daughter. But when a worker opened the drawer, we heard a cry and she was alive,” Bouguet told a local newspaper.
"The baby was there and they put the little casket on a stretcher. We looked for a bar to pry it open. My wife looked and uncovered it slowly. She saw the little hand and then uncovered the face. That's when it let the first little cry out,” Veron told reporters.
The baby was rushed back to the neonatal ward where she is currently in critical condition. "I can't explain what happened. Only that God has performed a miracle," said Veron.
Bouguet and Veron originally named their daughter Lucia, but they have now renamed her Luz Milagros, which means Miracle Light.
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