Healthy Baby Mistakenly Terminated By Doctors In Mix-Up With Sick Twin

In a tragic mix-up, doctors at a hospital in the U.K. accidentally terminated a healthy baby after mistaking the unborn for its sick twin, who also died during the procedure.

A Freedom of Information Act survey by the Sunday Express found the incident took place at the Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation Trust in 2019.

Surgeons had carried out the procedure with an intention of saving the healthier baby after finding out the other twin had restrictive growth, which increased the chances for stillbirth and other complications. Unfortunately, the termination was carried out on the healthy baby, resulting in the death of both the twins.

Speaking about the case, Dr. Fiona Reynolds, chief medical officer at Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Trust, told the outlet, "Sadly, during a highly specialized fetal procedure in 2019 that involved operating within the womb to separate and potentially save the life of a single twin that shared a placenta, a fatal error occurred."

"A full and comprehensive investigation was carried out swiftly after this tragic case and the findings were shared with the family, along with our sincere apologies and condolences. The outcome of that thorough review has led to a new protocol being developed to decrease the likelihood of such an incident happening again," he added.

Meanwhile, a Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists spokesman told the outlet such procedures are carried out to improve the survival chances of the healthy twin.

"Selective fetal growth restriction is a condition that occurs in around 10 to 20 percent of twin pregnancies when one of the babies does not receive enough nourishment through the placenta to grow at a normal rate. In the most serious cases, selective termination can improve the survival chances of the normally grown fetus at the expense of the severely growth-restricted co-twin," the spokesman said.

"However, all such procedures can carry an increased risk of early or total pregnancy loss. Parents who undergo selective terminations of twin pregnancies face agonizing decisions and report feelings of anxiety, stress and emotional trauma. They must be supported by their clinical team both during and after their pregnancy," he added,

This is one of the 700 incidents in NHS hospitals in England where errors caused deaths. In another incident, an unborn baby died at a hospital in Essex after a delay in performing a vital heart scan.