A Thai hospital has agreed to compensate two families after giving parents the wrong babies to take home following a week of treatment.
Krathumbaen Hospital, in the central province of Samut Sakhon, just outside central Bangkok, has admitted the babies were accidentally swapped, with each family given the wrong child to take home.
The facility has now agreed to compensate both families, according to a statement issued by hospital director Dr Thammawit Kuakoonkiat and Dr Surawit Sakdanuparb from the provincial public health office.
Dr Surawit says the incident happened last month and resulted in a newborn Thai baby being given to a Burmese family, while their newborn was given to the Thai family.
It’s understood both babies were in a special unit being treated for an infection. While there, nurses cut the wristbands off both babies while washing them, with the wristbands subsequently mixed up and put back on the wrong child.
It wasn’t until they arrived home that the Thai family noticed their baby looked “different”, prompting them to return to the hospital, according to a Bangkok Post report. After the parents requested a DNA test at the hospital, the mix-up was confirmed.
According to Dr Surawit, the hospital has offered free medical treatment to both children as compensation along with a cash settlement of 200,000 baht, split between the two families.
Whether the parents wish to take their children back there is another matter…
SOURCE: Bangkok Post
