• Safety Tips:
• Community Safety:Are You Sure You Have the Right Baby?
• Statistics:How often does it happen?
• Family Safety:Making Hospital Stays Safe

Community Safety:

You’ve seen the stories. Many of them seem unbelievable; babies – either through negligence or through human error – sent home from the hospital with the wrong parents. Yet, for as unbelievable as it seems, it is a very real problem that sometimes goes undetected for many years.

Such was the case in Richmond, Virginia where two baby girls were accidentally switched shortly after their birth and taken home by the wrong parents. The mistake wasn’t discovered until nearly three years after the girls’ birth.

In California, two nurses were fired after it was discovered that their negligence resulted in two baby boys being sent home with the wrong parents shortly after their 1999 birth. As a result of this and other similar situations, the hospital installed a new electronic security system which now makes it virtually impossible for this type of error to occur. This new system requires both mother and child to wear specially encoded electronic bracelets that can only be removed when the identification numbers on both bracelets match.

Taking steps to ensure newborns are given to the correct families is nothing new. For years, most hospitals have utilized a security system that requires both mother and child to wear wristbands bearing the family name as well as an identification number. Nurses and aides staffing the newborn nursery are instructed to not release the baby from the nursery until it is verified that the information on both bracelets match. Unfortunately, as the instances described above prove, this is often not enough.

Frequently, the identification bracelet worn by the baby slips off during when the baby is being bathed or changed. While this doesn’t pose much of a problem when just one baby loses their bracelet, it becomes more problematic when two or more are missing their identification.

One way to avoid this problem is to request that the baby remains in your hospital room for the duration of your stay. If the baby does need to be taken from the room for any reason – such as immunizations, bathing or an examination – you can request that you or your spouse or another family member accompany the baby.

While most hospitals will allow the newborn to remain with the parents, there are some that do not. In other cases, the new mother may have had complications during the birth that make it difficult to care for the newborn. In these cases, the baby remains in the nursery.

When it is necessary to have your newborn remain in the nursery, you can protect yourself and your baby by trying to find at least one unique identifying characteristic that will help you ensure the baby given to you is actually yours. Take note of the baby’s eye color, birthmarks or other blemishes. Using a digital camera, take a picture of your baby. This may help you to spot differences between your child and the one given to you by the nursery staff.

Statistics:

According to the 1998 Edition of the Tanderberg Report, (an annual medical study by sociologist Dr. Morton Tanderberg, 500,000 (1 of every 8) babies born in American hospitals is sent home with the wrong parents. The same report indicates that in highly populated urban areas where hospitals tend to be more crowded, the ratio climbs to 3 of 8 babies.

Family Safety:

With all of the anxiety that goes along with being a new parent, few people take the time to think about safety during their hospital stay. Yet, there unfortunately are many things that can compromise the safety of both you and your newborn during your hospital stay.

As pointed out in the above article, baby switching is one fairly significant problem. Abductions are also all too common. Fortunately, however, many hospitals have implemented procedures as well as state-of-the-art security equipment to in an effort to ensure the safety of both mother and child.

In addition, there are things you can do to protect yourself and your baby.

Most hospitals provide expectant parents the opportunity to tour the maternity unit prior to the baby’s birth. This is a good time to ask questions regarding the hospital’s security policies. Among the things you will likely be interested in are: whether access to the maternity area is limited to certain hours of the day, what type of security devices are used and whether the baby is allowed to remain in the room with you.

If you are not satisfied with the answers you receive, you will need to speak with your obstetrician to see if there is a way you can arrange to deliver your child at a different hospital. If it is early enough in your pregnancy, you may need to find a new obstetrician who has admitting privileges at the hospital of your choosing.

It is important to note that even though you may be satisfied with the hospital’s security procedures, there are still steps you can take to help ensure a safe stay. One of the first rules for a safe hospital stay is to never leave your baby unattended. If you need to use the bathroom or feel as though you need a nap, ask a nurse or aid to take your baby to the nursery. Similarly, when you do have the baby in your room, place their bassinet on the side of your bed that is furthest from the door. This will make it more difficult for someone to sneak into your room and take the baby should you doze off for a few moments.

You should also familiarize yourself with the hospital’s identification system. If someone claiming to be a hospital employee comes to your room and requests to take the baby to the nursery, be sure they are wearing the proper credentials. You should also know who your nurse is. Typically, nurses introduce themselves to their patients at the beginning of their shift; if someone unfamiliar comes to your room and requests to take your baby, it is entirely within your right to refuse to do so until you receive assurance that that person is a legitimate hospital employee.

Finally, if your newborn needs to be taken for tests or other procedures, ask where the baby will be taken and approximately how long the process is expected to take. You can also ask if you or a family member can accompany your baby.

Remember, as a patient you have rights, including the right to ensure the safety of your child. Taking the time to thoroughly investigate the hospital where you will be delivering your baby is one way in which you can help to protect those rights.

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