High Court issues rule on Tk5cr compensation for newborn's broken arm

The High Court (HC) has issued a rule asking why Tk5 crore in compensation should not be awarded to the family of a newborn whose arm was allegedly broken during treatment for jaundice at Delta Medical College and Hospital.

The court also asked why punitive measures should not be taken against those responsible for the medical negligence. It further directed the authorities to conduct an investigation and submit a report within three months.

The rule was issued today (11 August) by a High Court bench of Justice Fahmida Quader and Justice Sayed Jahed Mansur, following a writ petition filed by the newborn's father, Md Noor-e-Safah.

According to the petition, Noor-e-Safah's seven-day-old baby was admitted to the hospital on 3 April for phototherapy for high bilirubin levels.

He alleged that the hospital staff handed over the baby after treatment with a broken arm, a fact the family only discovered after returning home. He suspected the injury occurred during the treatment and that the baby may have been sedated to prevent the parents from noticing the injury.

The father's writ petition followed a prior internal investigation launched by the hospital with a five-member committee. Assistant Attorney General Eakramul Kabir confirmed the court's directives to the media.

Through the writ petition, Mirpur resident Md Noor-e-Safah stated that he admitted his newborn to Delta Medical College and Hospital on 3 April for a medical condition, where the baby was placed under the care of Dr AK Khairul Anam Chowdhury.

The writ alleges that the newborn's arm was broken during the course of treatment. The hospital authorities have since formed a five-member investigation committee to look into the matter.

Speaking to the media, the father said, "On 3 April, we admitted our newborn to Delta Medical College and Hospital for phototherapy due to high bilirubin levels. The hospital told us that for the therapy to run uninterrupted for a long time, we would only be allowed to breastfeed two or three times.

"For the rest of the time, we were to provide breast milk in a pump for them to feed the baby. We were not allowed to see or go near our child during treatment, specifically from midnight to 7am," he said.

"Following their rules, my wife breastfed the baby normally at 12am before leaving on 3 April. When she was called back at 7am to feed him again, she tried hard but could not wake him up. The on-duty nurse said she would call my wife when the baby woke up. At that point, my wife once again gave them pumped breast milk to feed the baby.

"The next day (4 April), at 10am, the duty doctor told us that the baby's bilirubin levels were under control and that he would be discharged. They asked us to clear the bill.

"At around 11am, they handed the baby back to my wife and told her to be careful with his right hand, as it might be sore due to the cannula. The baby was sleeping then, wrapped in a blanket. After we got home and tried to feed him by taking him out of the blanket, we discovered his right arm was broken above the elbow. He bawled whenever we touched it.

"As soon as we realised the arm was broken, we immediately took him back to the hospital's Neonatal Ward at around 12pm."

He told the media that after they showed them the injury, the doctor on duty claimed that he had checked the baby himself before discharge and claimed that the parents had broken his arm while pulling on it at home.

"It felt like it was our fault for not checking the baby as thoroughly as one would check a mobile phone before buying it," added Noor-e-Safah.

"At this point, they advised us to get an X-ray at the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Nitor) in Shyamoli, claiming they could not do it there. We lodged a formal complaint with them and left, as the baby's treatment was our priority," he continued. 

"During treatment until evening, the baby remained asleep and could not be fed. After evening, he started to become normal and began eating," he said.

"Since the baby was normal and fed at 12am, but stayed asleep from 7am onwards, we suspect his arm was broken sometime during the night and that he was given some sort of sedative to keep him asleep so we would not notice," said the newborn's father, Md Noor-e-Safah.