US Woman, Who Suffocated Newborn Son Accidentally, Now Sues Hosp

A mother had suffocated her newborn son by mistake at a hospital in Oregon, US, in 2012. Monica Thompson is now suing the hospital in which her baby boy was born. A nurse had taken him to her for breastfeeding and put him next to her on her bed.

An hour later, Thompson realised that her son was not moving. She called for the nurse to try and help her, but no nurse came. According to the lawsuit, Mrs Thompson carried her son to the hallway and yelled for help. Finally a nurse noticed the situation and called a Code Blue.

The baby boy, Jacob, wasn’t breathing. But the doctors stabilised him and placed him on life support. They transferred him to a neonatal intensive care unit at Randall Children’s Hospital. However, he died six days later. Doctors had said that the baby had gone too long without oxygen and had suffered permanent brain damage.

Thompson is suing the hospital for negligence. The lawsuit seeks more than $8 million and says that the incident has caused her a lot of emotional distress

“Jacob was a true miracle baby. My firstborn and only son. I am sharing our story in the hopes that no mother or family will ever have to suffer through a preventable tragedy such as this,” she said in a statement. Thompson now has a daughter.

Her lawyer said that the nurse had loaded the breastfeeding mother with narcotics and sleep aids and then dropped the newborn child next to her, and abandoned her. Unsafe sleep environments cause around 3,500 babies to pass away each year, according to a study. Sharing a bed with a baby is risky because they can get suffocated by the blankets, and parents are also at the risk of rolling over them.

Also Read: Chinese Facility For New Mothers To Relax After Giving Birth