Czech baby mix-up nurses sacked
By Rob Cameron
BBC News, Prague
A Czech hospital where two babies were mixed up at birth has sacked two nurses and disciplined five staff members.
Jaroslava Trojanova and baby Nikola"Jaroslava took a DNA test which showed she was not Nikola's motherThe case - in which two mothers have brought up the wrong baby girls for 10 months - has shocked the country.
The director of Trebic Hospital gave details of the hospital's internal inquiry into the affair at a special televised news conference.
He said two nurses in the maternity ward had been found responsible for the mix-up and had been dismissed.
A further five employees - including doctors and health managers - had been reprimanded and moved to other wards.
Nikola and Veronika were both born on 9 December 2006 in Trebic, 165km (100 miles) south of the Czech capital, Prague.
The mix-up only came to light when a dark-haired, dark-eyed father - suspicious at his baby daughter's blonde hair and blue eyes - underwent a secret DNA test.
The test proved he was not the girl's biological father, but a second test proved his partner was not the girl's biological mother either.
Angry and confused, they approached the hospital, which then discovered the terrible mistake.
The parents now face the agonising prospect of swapping their children.
One mother is said to be suffering extreme emotional trauma
.
I really do not know how the mothers will cope.I know they are being told they will have to swap but how can you possibly be expected to give back a baby you have loved and cared for, for over 10 months. The situation is terrible.
The noise level in the house has increased 200%!Ariel is home for the weekend(well allegedly), she came home yesterday evening so she could watch her young man play Aussie Rules football in Reading. She comes home to Wales for the weekend so she can go to Reading to watch football all day Saturday!
Would you believe that her young man is doing A levels in Geology, Geography and Biology and will be going on to do an academic degree and yet he is such a good fine artist that he does portraits that are worth between £50 and £350 each! And here am I doing Art A level and struggling to create a passable resemblance to people when I draw them. I am so envious of his talent.
Everyone seems to be better than me at art, Fiona's work is stunning and I wish I was half as talented.
A big thank you to the young shop assistant in The Range store on Newport Road for being so considerate when I knocked an ornament on the floor in the store.According to Fiona the ornament was particularly hideous but I still felt really guilty but the young man was really quite sweet. Well at least it wasn't 2 antique vases!
Last Updated: Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 11:00 GMT
How do you fix a smashed antique vase?
When a visitor to a Cambridge museum tripped over his shoelaces he smashed a set of 17th Century Chinese porcelain vases into pieces. Conservators have now pledged to glue them back together, but how?
It sounds like something from a crime scene. Once the body was removed from the staircase, a fingertip search for evidence began.
The body in question was Nick Flynn, who had accidentally fallen into three of the Fitzwilliam museum's Qing dynasty vases, breaking one and crunching two into small pieces (Mr Flynn, himself, was unharmed).
7 comments:
I saw the czech baby story too and was horrified. It was certainly in the back of my mind while we were in hospital but I have to say the nurses were brilliant and carefully "labelled" Tom up immediately and he rarely left Karen's bedside. All very reassuring.
My girls were all so identical as babies it is sometimes difficult to sort out the photographs. We can usually tell by the backgrounds though which is which.
Emailed the photos of Tom to you yesterday... ;-)
The photographs are brilliant Steve and the baby is so cute but I am more impressed with how lovely Karen looks so soon after having a baby.It would take a full beautician and hair stylist workout to get me even close.
Just passed on your comments to Karen - the result: an even bigger smile than the one she's been wearing for the last few days!
I don't know what would be worse - bringing up a baby that wasn't biologically your own (and never knowing), or having to swap the baby that isn't yours for the baby that is (when you have become attached to the child and loved and cared for it for so long)! It's a horrible thought!!!
I personally would never get over having to hand a baby back in that situation.Years ago I remember there being a similar story and in the end, when the girls were teenagers, they both became more attached to the one family.It would be like losing 2 children instead of just one.
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