PE mom gets 'her' baby back
2006-09-06 07:20
Port Elizabeth - The hospital allegedly responsible for allowing a new-born girl to be breastfed by the wrong mother - a woman with HIV - has re-united the mothers with their own babies.
Shortly after Liezel Jacobs, 18, held her daughter for the first time in five days, she gave her a name, Tamia, and began breast-feeding her.
She said: "I'm so pleased I've got my child back and that I eventually can take her home.
"It doesn't even matter if she is HIV-positive or not," said Liezel, crying with happiness.
The "baby-switch" took place on Thursday last week when Liezel and an unknown black woman gave birth to daughters at Dora Nginza Hospital.
Hospital is 99.99% sure
Liezel said a doctor told her on Saturday that her baby had been accidentally breast-fed by an HIV-positive woman.
However, the other woman is adamant that Tamia is her child.
Hospital medical superintendent Dr Aydin Vehbi said: "We're now 99.99% sure which baby belongs to which mother, but we've taken more blood samples from all parties for DNA tests just to confirm our decision."
Vehbi said basic blood tests and comparing the times that the two women were in theatre virtually cleared up the confusion about which baby belonged to which mother.
" Nevirapine (an anti-Aids product administered to prevent the transfer of HIV from mother to child) has been given to the baby breast-fed by the wrong mother.
"Another good aspect is that the baby was breast-fed only once in the first 24 hours after birth."
He said the baby could have just ingested colostrum, a watery milk discharge, which starts early in pregnancy and is still found in the breasts for the first couple of days after birth.
He explained colostrum contained fewer of the mother's antibodies than regular mother's milk.
Although Vehbi didn't want to elaborate about the internal investigation taking place, he let slip that a problem with the mothers' medical files could have caused the confusion.
If it was found a nurse was responsible for exchanging the files, the case apparently would be referred to the South African Nursing Council.
Additional HIV tests
By the same token, if a doctor were to be found guilty of negligence, the matter would be reported to the Medical Association of South Africa.
An attorney from Ludik & Booysen in Pretoria, Ruann Kruger, who offered to represent Liezel free of charge if she wanted to sue the hospital, said the extent of the claim would depend on additional HIV tests done on Tamia.
She tested negative in initial tests, but would have to undergo additional tests in the next few months to be sure.