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Injection victims recovering, say
hospital officials
By Melody Chen
STAFF REPORTER
Four out of the six babies who survived receiving the wrong
injection at Taipei's Peicheng Hospital for Women and Children
Friday are now able to breathe on their own, hospital sources said
yesterday.
A baby died Friday after a nurse in the hospital mistakenly
injected seven newborns with the muscle relaxant Atracurium rather
than a hepatitis B vaccine.
The seven babies, all suffering breathing difficulties, were
transferred to four hospitals for emergency treatment Friday night.
Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, at which one of the four babies
sent to it died, said yesterday that the other three babies were in
stable condition.
"Two babies can already breathe by themselves. The other baby
still needs a ventilator, but doctors say her condition is stable
now," said hospital spokesman Hong Wang-long (¬x±æÄn).
The baby sent to Taipei Medical University Hospital still
requires assistance breathing, a hospital source said.
Reports said the two babies transferred to National Taiwan
University Hospital and Taipei Municipal Hoping Hospital were both
able to breathe by themselves.
The nurse responsible for administering the injections said she
is content to look back on the tragedy from behind bars.
"Just detain me. Let me think about the whole event in the
detention center," Huang Ching-hui (¶À¹t´f) told
prosecutors Friday.
Huang said she did notice that the containers of the vaccines she
was to inject into the babies were different from those used for
hepatitis B vaccines.
"I showed the containers to another nurse and asked her why the
containers were different," Huang said.
"The nurse told me that the package of the vaccines may have been
changed. After I injected one-and-a-half bottles of the vaccine into
the babies, they started to show abnormal signs," she said.
Huang said she did not know why the muscle relaxant Atracurium
would appear in the basket where hepatitis B vaccines were usually
placed.
According to investigators, Atracurium had been placed in the
basket for hepatitis B vaccines without any signs noting the
difference.
Peicheng Hospital Director Hsu Mu-chan (®}¤ì¬u)
insisted the mishap was entirely due to the nurse's mistake.
The Department of Health (DOH) has formed a task force to
investigate the tragedy.
Huang Fu-yuan (¶À´I·½), vice superintendent of
Mackay Memorial Hospital, leads the task force. "My biggest concern
now is whether these six babies will suffer cerebral palsy," Huang
said.
Meanwhile, a woman died of amniotic fluid embolism shortly after
giving birth in the Peicheng Hospital Friday night. Her frustrated
family accused the hospital of negligence.
Hsu Keng-yao (³\¯ÑÄ£), the woman's husband,
said his wife received an anesthetic at 8:10am Friday. "However, the
doctor rushed out because the baby injection mishap had taken
place," Hsu said.
"My wife had been kept waiting until 2:45pm, when she received
her second dose of anesthetic. My daughter was born about 3:30pm,"
Hsu Keng-yao said.
"But the hospital suddenly informed me my wife needed to be
transferred to another hospital at 8pm. At 10pm she died at the Far
Eastern Hospital," Hsu Keng-yao said.
Hsu Mu-chan said the tragedy was not the result of hospital
negligence.
Acting head of the DOH Twu Shiing-jer (Ò\¿ôõ)
visited the six babies in hospital and the parents of the dead baby
yesterday.
Twu said the department would seriously consider shutting down
the hospital.
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