Baby Decapitated During Breech Birth At Hospital, Woman Undergoes Multiple Procedures

A 32-year-old woman in Pakistan's Sindh region had to undergo multiple procedures following a breech birth during which the child's head was reportedly severed from the torso.

In a breech birth, only the lower body of the baby comes out of the mother during delivery.

According to local media reports, the staff at the hospital severed the newborn baby's head after it got stuck in the mother's womb. The woman then underwent a procedure to deliver the torso of the baby girl. She was later moved to another hospital to remove the baby’s head from her abdomen.

The first operation took place at Chhachhro, and the other at Hyderabad’s Liaquat University Hospital (LUH), Dawn reported. The exact date when the surgery took place remains unknown.

The incident prompted the director general of Sindh Health Services, Dr. Juman Bahoto, to order inquiries into the incident. It is believed the woman was moved to a different facility as the first hospital, where she was admitted to give birth to the child, was not capable of treating her, Geo TV reported.

A three-member committee was also created to inquire into the mishandling of the case. The committee would look into the absence of a gynecologist and female staffers at the rural health center (RHC) in Chhachhro.

The woman is currently admitted under the care of Prof Dr. Raheel Sikandar of Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences, Jamshoro.

“The woman’s life has been saved,” Sikandar told Dawn on Sunday, adding the doctor didn’t carry out a normal procedure to retrieve the baby’s head as the mother’s uterus had ruptured after the procedure at the Chhachhro hospital.

“The baby’s buttocks and legs were fully developed, but unfortunately it was a dead breech baby,” Sikandar said. “The fetus was not in a cephalic position. So the head got stuck after delivering the torso because the delivery was done by inexperienced hands."

The District Health Officer of Mithi has also been directed to conduct an inquiry and submit a report within 24 hours.

“There are instances in which patients report to hospital when they are in a serious condition,” Dr. Bahoto said.

Meanwhile, Sikandar said usually breech babies are delivered, and they survive.

“Healthcare providers (in Chhachhro) might have tried to save the baby, but in vain. The baby’s head was entrapped. In such breech baby cases, deaths occur in one minute if they are not fully delivered,” Sikandar said, according to the Dawn.