A four-month-old infant has died after a hospital worker reportedly injected milk into his intravenous tube instead of his feeding tube.
The heartbreaking ordeal of baby Miguel Angelo Barbosa’s family began on October 11 when he was rushed to a hospital emergency department in Brazil suffering breathing difficulties, according to The Sun.
The infant was treated for bronchiolitis and days later was showing improved vitals with his family holding out hope he would be released.
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As part of his treatment at Hospital Memorial de Goiana, Miguel was given fluids and medication via an intravenous line in his neck while he was fed milk through a separate feeding tube connected to his nasal passage.
His aunt Meyre Gabriela da Silva would stay by his bedside as his mother recuperated from an emergency appendectomy.
It was in the early hours of October 20 when Meyre said she was briefly out of the room when the fatal mistake was allegedly made.
Meyre said she left Miguel’s side to go to the bathroom while he was sleeping about 4am. But when she returned she said “he started crying, made a strange sound and turned completely purple”.
“He began to lose consciousness and his mouth turned grey,” the tot’s paternal aunt said.
“I immediately called for help and, when I turned on the light, I saw the intravenous line connected incorrectly.”
Miguel died after medical teams spent a frantic hour trying to resuscitate him.
Miguel’s family claims that the milk was incorrectedly hooked up to the baby’s intravenous line instead of his feeding tube despite Meyre’s assertion that they were on opposite sides of the child’s body and were different in appearance.
Meyre said she had witnessed the hospital staffer correctly administering medication and fluids to Miguel on previous shifts.
She also alleged that the worker confessed to a doctor that she had got the tubes wrong but maintained that the pump connected to the feeding tube had not been switched on.
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Meyre also accused the same worker of fleeing the hospital when it soon became apparent that Miguel was not going to make it, according to The Sun.
Miguel’s father said he wanted “everyone who made mistakes to be held responsible and punished”.
“This should never happen to my child or anyone else’s,” he said.
The family has since made contact with the Pernambuco Civil Police, who has reportedly registered the case as a homicide.
The Hospital Memorial de Goiana stated that it had suspended the worker and was also investigating the matter.
“The hospital deeply regrets the adverse event involving a child and expresses its unconditional solidarity with the child’s parents and relatives,” it said in a statement.
“In more than 30 years of activity, MHG has always prioritised good medical practice. We are at the authorities’ disposal for anything necessary.”
Miguel’s heartbroken family buried the child on October 22 – just 11 days after he was admitted to the emergency room.
The child’s body was tested beforehand at the Institute of Legal Medicine with an official cause of death yet to be confirmed.
The investigation into his death continues.
