Healthy baby terminated by hospital in mix-up with sick twin

Doctors at a hospital in Birmingham mistakenly terminated a healthy unborn baby in a procedure instead of its sickly twin.

The unidentified mother decided to abort one of the fetuses because it was suffering from restrictive growth, which increases the chances of stillbirth and puts the healthy baby at risk. During the procedure at Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Foundation, surgeons accidentally terminated the wrong twin.

The 2019 incident emerged in a Freedom of Information Act survey of hospital blunders.

Dr Fiona Reynolds, chief medical officer at Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Trust, said: "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."

Read full story

Source: The Independent, 6 September 2021