Parents blame hospital for baby's death

A couple has lodged a complaint against a Dubai hospital for alleged negligence following the death of their new-born son about 48 hours after a natural delivery. The parents of baby Alex Gabriel Rizo Jose said their baby weighed 1.96kg when he was born on January 9 at around 12.45pm. He died two days later at the nursery of the Canadian Specialist Hospital (CSH) in Abu Hail. Filipinos Nolly Rizo-Jose, 34, and Katherine, 32, claim their baby, nicknamed Gab, was healthy and suckled well, though delivered pre-term — between 32 and 33 weeks. A post-mortem report is expected on Thursday after the father filed a police complaint. Nolly said: "We got married in 2008 and we've patiently waited for our first-born to arrive for nearly four years. We want to know the truth. We can't believe he died even after he was declared healthy enough to get off oxygen or any life-support and was taken out of the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU)." On Sunday, Nolly lodged a complaint at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA). The parents cited the two-hour gap between the time the infant was last fed on Wednesday (11.15am on January 11) and the time he was checked again by the duty nurse (1.15pm), by which time he was already bluish in colour. The hospital declared him dead at 1.50pm. "Soon after delivery on January 9, they brought him to my wife for a few minutes… the doctor told us that the baby was all right and they will take him to the NICU for further checking." Inside the NICU, the baby was put on oxygen and his vital signs monitored. At 6.30pm, the couple were told the oxygen was taken off as the baby was breathing well by himself and likely to be transferred to the nursery soon. On January 10, at 10.15pm, the baby was brought to Katherine's bedside before nurses took him to the nursery room at 11.10pm. Around 7am the following day, the couple was informed by the doctor on duty that the baby required photo-therapy but everything else was fine. Around 1.30pm, Nolly received a call and was asked to come to the nursery section: "She told us our baby was gone." In a statement, Dr Shoaib Shahzad Khan, Head of the Department of Paediatric and Neonatology at CSH, has said the "most probable" cause was aspiration/cardio-respiratory failure. "We are extremely regretful of this mortality and extend our full support and empathy to the parents at this difficult time," the statement said.