Hospital discovered giving away wrong baby after 6 years of raising

On July 11, a representative of the Ministry of Health said that they had received a petition from Mr. Phung Giang Son about Ba Vi General Hospital mistakenly giving away his and his wife's child.

In the petition, Mr. Phung Giang Son stated: 6 years ago, on the morning of November 1, 2012, his wife (Ms. Phung Thi Thu Hien) gave birth to a son, Phung Thanh H., at the Obstetrics Department of Ba Vi General Hospital (Ba Vi district, Hanoi).

Mr. Phung Giang Son sent a petition to the Ministry of Health about the incident of the wrong baby 6 years ago.

When the baby was delivered, the couple suspected that they had mistakenly given him the wrong diaper, so they asked the obstetrician, but the obstetrician confirmed that it was the baby's diaper and not a mistake. Mr. Son's family believed the hospital's statement and did not know that the baby had been given the wrong diaper.

However, as Phung Thanh H. grew older, he began to have more and more features that were different from his own. Mr. Son and his wife began to suspect that the medical staff had given him the wrong child, so they took H. for a DNA test at the Institute of Criminal Science (Ministry of Public Security). The results showed that H. was not related to Mr. Son and his wife by blood.

The Ministry of Health requested the Hanoi Department of Health to direct the resolution of the case of the wrong baby exchange at Ba Vi General Hospital.

Last March, Mr. Son’s family reported the incident to Ba Vi General Hospital. Immediately after receiving the information, the hospital investigated and looked up the records of children born at the same time, then determined that Ms. Vu Thi Huong’s family (in Phu Son, Ba Vi district, Hanoi) was the one most likely to have had their child mistakenly exchanged.

Hospital representatives met with the two families and agreed that both sides would take the children for DNA testing at the Institute of Forensic Science. The results showed that the children of the two families had been mistakenly exchanged.

The children have not yet been reunited with their families.

"When we received the results, we were shocked and felt so sorry for the two children. We were all so hurt by the hospital's mistake," Mr. Son stated in his petition to the Ministry of Health.

In the petition, Mr. Son also stated that when confirming the mistake, the leadership of Ba Vi General Hospital committed to take full responsibility for the incident; at the same time, committed to finding and completing all procedures to return the children to the two families within 2 weeks. However, after more than 3 months, the children have not been reunited with their families.

Mr. Son expressed his hope that the authorities would soon intervene to correct the mistake in the child handover process; at the same time, request Ba Vi District General Hospital to compensate for mental and material damages, and promptly take disciplinary action against the violations and the wrong child handover of those involved.

Immediately after receiving the petition, the Ministry of Health forwarded it to the Hanoi Department of Health, requesting strict handling of violations (if any) by the on-duty team at Ba Vi District General Hospital; requesting the hospital and related units to thoroughly resolve the case and related incidents, to avoid prolonged complaints.