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Camila Leyva Obregón is a Cuban mother seeking justice after the death of her newborn baby at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Hospital in Bayamo, Granma.
According to his testimony, the baby passed away 11 days after birth due to what he believes is a series of medical negligence and inadequate care from the hospital staff.
The woman recounted in a heartbreaking post on Facebook that on January 10th, she went to the hospital after her water broke at home.
Despite arriving around noon, she states that she continued to lose amniotic fluid until 5:00 a.m. the following day, when she was finally taken to give birth.
According to their words, during that time the medical staff did not provide adequate care: the nurses and the on-duty doctor were asleep.
The baby was born seemingly healthy on January 11 and was taken to the recovery room with his mother.
However, two days later, on January 13, the doctors decided to transfer him to the neonatal unit due to a yellowish discoloration of the skin.
Subsequently, they performed an X-ray that indicated the presence of pneumonia.
The mother claims that a lumbar puncture was performed on her baby without her consent, and that when she protested about her son's condition, who was experiencing bleeding, the nurses assured her that the child was improving.
However, the baby began to convulse and died after what the medical staff described as eight respiratory arrests.
So far, the explanations provided by the hospital regarding the cause of death have been contradictory.
According to the mother, she has been told that the baby died from pneumonia, a stroke, coagulation issues, and widespread sepsis.
"My baby only lasted 11 days. What they did was kill him," the mother stated in pain, as she seeks justice to prevent other families from going through similar situations.
In recent years, there have been several cases of families reporting on social media the deaths of small children or even newborns due to alleged medical negligence.
In February of last year, a two-year-old boy also passed away in Havana due to a misdiagnosis of bacterial meningitis, a very serious illness that can lead to a fatal outcome within just a few hours, as happened in that case.
It was a clear medical emergency that, even after being correctly diagnosed, should have been treated as soon as possible in order to minimize potential consequences.
Also, at the beginning of 2024, a father from Guantánamo reported the death of his eight-month-old son after doctors allegedly failed to detect in time that the child had a congenital heart defect and instead diagnosed him with otitis.
In another case of alleged medical negligence, a complaint was filed in January of last year regarding the death of a newborn baby at the Enrique Cabrera Cossío Teaching General Hospital, commonly known as the "National Hospital," in Havana.
Similar complaints are common amidst the evident collapse of the Cuban public health system, characterized by the increasing shortage of specialists and supplies.
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