Babies being swapped at the hospital

dowie said:
I'm guessing sometimes the nurses are too busy making tiktoks and these mistakes happen, this guy on reddit thought his wife was cheating after reading some incel guff online, took a paternity test and found out his daughter wasn't his... but surprisingly also later discovered wasn't his wife's either:


Does make you wonder how common this is, apparently not so much in the UK:


Though the near misses aren't exactly confidence inspiring either:



But apparently in backwards countries like South Africa, Spain and 'merica it does happen occasionally:

Spain: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/family-kids/woman-discovers-switched-birth-20-24955195

South Africa: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/man-swapped-birth-resents-mother-25995413

The latter case was a bit :eek: as they did discover the mistake when the kids were only 2 years od but... rather surprisingly, decided not to swap them back, though kept in contact. Unfortunately one of the kids was then stuck with a poor single mother and rather resentful of the fact his actual mother was quite well off (of course the single mum's actual kid, who'd grown up with rich parents, was quite happy with how his life had turned out). In the end, the rich mother decided to encourage her actual kid to move in with her too leaving the former single mum with no kid:



I don't really get their approach, surely, upon finding a mistake like that you'd want your actual kid back? If you'd had the wrong kid for a while then you'd kinda want to maintain contact with them too I presume but surely you'd not abandon your actual offspring?

Anyway what would you want to do GD - say you have a kid, the nurse rushes off with it to clean it up and because too busy and/or incompetent/dumb manages to stick the wrong bracelet on it and another baby... you later discover the error...

Would it change your view/approach if it were discovered at 2 years vs 5 years vs some later point like 10 years?
Click to expand...
My parents were both doctors who worked on maternity wards. I know my mum always said to never let your own baby out of your sight. From my experience that didn't seem to happen with my kids, but I think it used to be more common that babies weeks be taken out of the room by nursing staff to be weighed etc
 
dowie said:
I'm guessing sometimes the nurses are too busy making tiktoks and these mistakes happen, this guy on reddit thought his wife was cheating after reading some incel guff online, took a paternity test and found out his daughter wasn't his... but surprisingly also later discovered wasn't his wife's either:


Does make you wonder how common this is, apparently not so much in the UK:


Though the near misses aren't exactly confidence inspiring either:



But apparently in backwards countries like South Africa, Spain and 'merica it does happen occasionally:

Spain: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/family-kids/woman-discovers-switched-birth-20-24955195

South Africa: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/man-swapped-birth-resents-mother-25995413

The latter case was a bit :eek: as they did discover the mistake when the kids were only 2 years od but... rather surprisingly, decided not to swap them back, though kept in contact. Unfortunately one of the kids was then stuck with a poor single mother and rather resentful of the fact his actual mother was quite well off (of course the single mum's actual kid, who'd grown up with rich parents, was quite happy with how his life had turned out). In the end, the rich mother decided to encourage her actual kid to move in with her too leaving the former single mum with no kid:



I don't really get their approach, surely, upon finding a mistake like that you'd want your actual kid back? If you'd had the wrong kid for a while then you'd kinda want to maintain contact with them too I presume but surely you'd not abandon your actual offspring?

Anyway what would you want to do GD - say you have a kid, the nurse rushes off with it to clean it up and because too busy and/or incompetent/dumb manages to stick the wrong bracelet on it and another baby... you later discover the error...

Would it change your view/approach if it were discovered at 2 years vs 5 years vs some later point like 10 years?
Click to expand...
My parents were both doctors who worked on maternity wards. I know my mum always said to never let your own baby out of your sight. From my experience that didn't seem to happen with my kids, but I think it used to be more common that babies weeks be taken out of the room by nursing staff to be weighed etc
 
dowie said:
I'm guessing sometimes the nurses are too busy making tiktoks and these mistakes happen, this guy on reddit thought his wife was cheating after reading some incel guff online, took a paternity test and found out his daughter wasn't his... but surprisingly also later discovered wasn't his wife's either:


Does make you wonder how common this is, apparently not so much in the UK:


Though the near misses aren't exactly confidence inspiring either:



But apparently in backwards countries like South Africa, Spain and 'merica it does happen occasionally:

Spain: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/family-kids/woman-discovers-switched-birth-20-24955195

South Africa: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/man-swapped-birth-resents-mother-25995413

The latter case was a bit :eek: as they did discover the mistake when the kids were only 2 years od but... rather surprisingly, decided not to swap them back, though kept in contact. Unfortunately one of the kids was then stuck with a poor single mother and rather resentful of the fact his actual mother was quite well off (of course the single mum's actual kid, who'd grown up with rich parents, was quite happy with how his life had turned out). In the end, the rich mother decided to encourage her actual kid to move in with her too leaving the former single mum with no kid:



I don't really get their approach, surely, upon finding a mistake like that you'd want your actual kid back? If you'd had the wrong kid for a while then you'd kinda want to maintain contact with them too I presume but surely you'd not abandon your actual offspring?

Anyway what would you want to do GD - say you have a kid, the nurse rushes off with it to clean it up and because too busy and/or incompetent/dumb manages to stick the wrong bracelet on it and another baby... you later discover the error...

Would it change your view/approach if it were discovered at 2 years vs 5 years vs some later point like 10 years?
Click to expand...
My parents were both doctors who worked on maternity wards. I know my mum always said to never let your own baby out of your sight. From my experience that didn't seem to happen with my kids, but I think it used to be more common that babies weeks be taken out of the room by nursing staff to be weighed etc
 
dowie said:
I'm guessing sometimes the nurses are too busy making tiktoks and these mistakes happen, this guy on reddit thought his wife was cheating after reading some incel guff online, took a paternity test and found out his daughter wasn't his... but surprisingly also later discovered wasn't his wife's either:


Does make you wonder how common this is, apparently not so much in the UK:


Though the near misses aren't exactly confidence inspiring either:



But apparently in backwards countries like South Africa, Spain and 'merica it does happen occasionally:

Spain: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/lifestyle/family-kids/woman-discovers-switched-birth-20-24955195

South Africa: https://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/man-swapped-birth-resents-mother-25995413

The latter case was a bit :eek: as they did discover the mistake when the kids were only 2 years od but... rather surprisingly, decided not to swap them back, though kept in contact. Unfortunately one of the kids was then stuck with a poor single mother and rather resentful of the fact his actual mother was quite well off (of course the single mum's actual kid, who'd grown up with rich parents, was quite happy with how his life had turned out). In the end, the rich mother decided to encourage her actual kid to move in with her too leaving the former single mum with no kid:



I don't really get their approach, surely, upon finding a mistake like that you'd want your actual kid back? If you'd had the wrong kid for a while then you'd kinda want to maintain contact with them too I presume but surely you'd not abandon your actual offspring?

Anyway what would you want to do GD - say you have a kid, the nurse rushes off with it to clean it up and because too busy and/or incompetent/dumb manages to stick the wrong bracelet on it and another baby... you later discover the error...

Would it change your view/approach if it were discovered at 2 years vs 5 years vs some later point like 10 years?
Click to expand...
My parents were both doctors who worked on maternity wards. I know my mum always said to never let your own baby out of your sight. From my experience that didn't seem to happen with my kids, but I think it used to be more common that babies weeks be taken out of the room by nursing staff to be weighed etc
 
My parents were both doctors who worked on maternity wards. I know my mum always said to never let your own baby out of your sight. From my experience that didn't seem to happen with my kids, but I think it used to be more common that babies weeks be taken out of the room by nursing staff
 
SexyGreyFox said:
I hope you did something about it.
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No, at the time (or after her op at least) she wasn't worried about that, the A&E experience prior, horrific.. And also paled in to insignificance compared to how they tried to kill my Dad, withdrew dialysis, NBM as they said he was unresponsive.. After 2 days of hanging on, he managed to get himself out of bed and was found wandering around.. it turns out he was looking for food because he was hungry and couldn't understand why the nurse who had offered him food ignored him trying to say 'yes' and just blanked him and no food came.. The Nurses lied when we arrived and said he was practially in a coma and his organs where shutting down.. we walked in the room expecting the worse, to find him in the chair next to the bed and cried when he saw his granddaughter.. We badgered them to let us stay and feed him, he was discharged 2 days later and we had a further 3 months before he sucumbed to his underlying condition..

None of the above we have complained about, I did enquire as to how (for my Dad's treatment) but I quickly realised it's pointless, a lot of negative emotions on our behalf, zero chance of any outcome the other end due to not having any real proof..
 
Demon said:
No, at the time (or after her op at least) she wasn't worried about that, the A&E experience prior, horrific.. And also paled in to insignificance compared to how they tried to kill my Dad, withdrew dialysis, NBM as they said he was unresponsive.. After 2 days of hanging on, he managed to get himself out of bed and was found wandering around.. it turns out he was looking for food because he was hungry and couldn't understand why the nurse who had offered him food ignored him trying to say 'yes' and just blanked him and no food came.. The Nurses lied when we arrived and said he was practially in a coma and his organs where shutting down.. we walked in the room expecting the worse, to find him in the chair next to the bed and cried when he saw his granddaughter.. We badgered them to let us stay and feed him, he was discharged 2 days later and we had a further 3 months before he sucumbed to his underlying condition..

None of the above we have complained about, I did enquire as to how (for my Dad's treatment) but I quickly realised it's pointless, a lot of negative emotions on our behalf, zero chance of any outcome the other end due to not having any real proof..
Click to expand...

The thing is we need that data.
All incidents/complaints etc are put onto our DATIX system (I believe a lot of Trusts use it) and every month departments look at them, discuss them and hopefully in a lot of cases lessons are learnt.
 
I've often thought my eldest sister (2nd born of 4 kids) was swapped at birth. She's nothing like the rest of the family. She's thick as 2 short planks and barely scraped through GCSEs whereas myself and my 2 younger siblings practically breezed through & got degrees. She's selfish, narcissistic & disloyal. Treats her kids like they're an inconvienence.

Literally the polar opposite to the rest of the family.
 
Demon said:
No, at the time (or after her op at least) she wasn't worried about that, the A&E experience prior, horrific.. And also paled in to insignificance compared to how they tried to kill my Dad, withdrew dialysis, NBM as they said he was unresponsive.. After 2 days of hanging on, he managed to get himself out of bed and was found wandering around.. it turns out he was looking for food because he was hungry and couldn't understand why the nurse who had offered him food ignored him trying to say 'yes' and just blanked him and no food came.. The Nurses lied when we arrived and said he was practially in a coma and his organs where shutting down.. we walked in the room expecting the worse, to find him in the chair next to the bed and cried when he saw his granddaughter.. We badgered them to let us stay and feed him, he was discharged 2 days later and we had a further 3 months before he sucumbed to his underlying condition..

None of the above we have complained about, I did enquire as to how (for my Dad's treatment) but I quickly realised it's pointless, a lot of negative emotions on our behalf, zero chance of any outcome the other end due to not having any real proof..
Click to expand...

We're 6 years down the line with a complaint regarding my dad's death in 2016. A complaint that is ridiculously complex as it deals with multiple acts of incompetence & possibily malpractice by not informing patient/carer with POA

A known vunerable patient with Alzheimers/Dementia was allowed to leave the hospital by himself in an agitated state on the hottest day of the year without any possessions or access to water. He collasped and died outside his home after walking 6 miles in blazing heat.

At his autopsy he was found to have cancer in most of his vital organs & would have been considered a terminal patient. The Coroner stated that at the level of spread it would have been noticeable by his blood test results (he had a rare blood disorder which was checked every 6-8 weeks) 18-24 months prior to his death. Upon requesting his full medical file there were several inconsistencies in recorded notes & the Coroner also believes there are missing records. His findings were confirmed by a 2nd coroner.
Our solicitor believes that, without authorisation, a doctor made the decision not to treat the cancer due to his Alzheimers/Dementia.

As a family we have already said that it's a decision we would have made as not to add to his suffering by adding more confusion however we were never given that opportunity.
 
Resident said:
We're 6 years down the line with a complaint regarding my dad's death in 2016. A complaint that is ridiculously complex as it deals with multiple acts of incompetence & possibily malpractice by not informing patient/carer with POA
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Why haven't you taken it to a Solicitor who would have had a result a lot quicker?
 
SexyGreyFox said:
Why haven't you taken it to a Solicitor who would have had a result a lot quicker?
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It IS with a solicitor. We were meant to have our court hearing late 2019 which got postponed to April 2020 and then Covid. Still waiting on a new court date as the NHS doesn't want to settle.

We're not bothered money-wise we just want someone to be found accountable and removed from the profession permanently but the NHS is pushing back
 
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Resident said:
It IS with a solicitor. We were meant to have our court hearing late 2019 which got postponed to April 2020 and then Covid. Still waiting on a new court date as the NHS doesn't want to settle.

We're not bothered money-wise we just want someone to be found accountable and removed from the profession permanently but the NHS is pushing back
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Covid has slowed court cases down.
From my experience this sounds like it has gone to the NHSR who have basically taken the case over, so basically the Trust, the Trust Solicitors (not the ones who work in the Trust) have handed everything over to them and they are the ones who think there is no Breach Of Duty.
This is strange because they will normally look at the case and then advise us how much to offer.

The bad news is the chances of anyone being made accountable and being removed from the profession permanently won't happen.
In 12 years I have only known 4 cases at my Trust where this has happened but this is because they have committed negligent acts continuously over the years and 3 of them made the National News.
If somebody is identified the other Clinicians will stab them in the back, I've never known them group together and stick up for each other which is a common myth.
The last case saw around 50 Clinicians sending in reports about the 'accused'.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
Covid has slowed court cases down.
From my experience this sounds like it has gone to the NHSR who have basically taken the case over, so basically the Trust, the Trust Solicitors (not the ones who work in the Trust) have handed everything over to them and they are the ones who think there is no Breach Of Duty.
This is strange because they will normally look at the case and then advise us how much to offer.

The bad news is the chances of anyone being made accountable and being removed from the profession permanently won't happen.
In 12 years I have only known 4 cases at my Trust where this has happened but this is because they have committed negligent acts continuously over the years and 3 of them made the National News.
If somebody is identified the other Clinicians will stab them in the back, I've never known them group together and stick up for each other which is a common myth.
The last case saw around 50 Clinicians sending in reports about the 'accused'.
Click to expand...

I suppose in some ways this is reassuring, shows that the majority of people working for the NHS on the clinical side are looking out for the patients best interests.

Wish i'd have got in touch last year with you regarding my experience with not being taken seriously until I paid for a private consultation and MRI scan which led to a surgery which I ended up paying privately for! I did complain but wanted to just get on with things and recover
 
SexyGreyFox said:
The thing is we need that data.
All incidents/complaints etc are put onto our DATIX system (I believe a lot of Trusts use it) and every month departments look at them, discuss them and hopefully in a lot of cases lessons are learnt.
Click to expand...

I just have no faith that it isn't just a tick box system that the same lazy incompetent staff members (not all, but more alarmingly more than I would have ever expected) would just excuse it..

The best people I've encountered are the doctors and clinical teams, they work hard, are professional and generally have no complaints..
 
Demon said:
I just have no faith that it isn't just a tick box system that the same lazy incompetent staff members (not all, but more alarmingly more than I would have ever expected) would just excuse it..

The best people I've encountered are the doctors and clinical teams, they work hard, are professional and generally have no complaints..
Click to expand...

At our trust they take them seriously because it becomes like a scoreboard and the Execs want it sorting.
When a DATIX is put on the system up to 40 Clinicians also get an email notification and some of them will be involved so they are all taken seriously.
When they've had the MDT they will put on the outcome and how to stop it happening again.
Of course humans will human.
 
SexyGreyFox said:
At our trust they take them seriously because it becomes like a scoreboard and the Execs want it sorting.
When a DATIX is put on the system up to 40 Clinicians also get an email notification and some of them will be involved so they are all taken seriously.
When they've had the MDT they will put on the outcome and how to stop it happening again.
Of course humans will human.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the inside knowledge, nice to know!
 
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