Baby decapitated during delivery in Tamil Nadu hospital; family alleges negligence by staff

In an extremely rare incident, a baby was decapitated during delivery at a hospital in Tamil Nadu's Kanchipuram on Wednesday. Bommi, who was in her last stage of pregnancy, had gone into labour when she visited her parents on Wednesday morning.

She was rushed to a public healthcare centre in the district, reports The News Minute.

There, due to the unavailability of doctors, nurses conducted the delivery and opted for a vaginal birth even though they knew that the baby had an intrauterine birth. During delivery, the baby was decapitated while its torso still remained in the body. To make matters worse, the nurses denied medicines to the woman who was in extreme pain.

After the baby was decapitated, the woman was sent to Chengalpattu Medical College Hospital where she underwent emergency surgery to remove the torso of the baby. According to TNM, the doctors were able to save the woman's life.

"Preliminary investigations are underway. We are trying to find out the reason behind this," Dr Senthil Kumar, the deputy director of public health (Tamil Nadu) was quoted as saying by TNM.

Bommi's relatives accused the PHC in Kanchipuram of medical negligence since the nurses were not authorised to deliver the baby in the absence of the doctors. They instead should have referred the woman to another hospital.

This is not the only case in recent times where a baby was decapitated during childbirth. In January, a male nurse in Rajasthan had delivered a baby's torso while the head was still inside the mother. The nurse then sent the woman to another hospital where they discovered to their shock that the baby's head was still inside the woman.