Newborn Born Comatose Due to Alleged Negligence by Doctor Dies

The child born Aug. 14 in the town of Vayk in southern Armenia then moved to a Yerevan hospital and who was in a coma since its birth has died, reports youth civil initiative “We won’t be silent.”

 

As reported previously, the group disseminated a video in which relatives of 20-year-old, first-time mom Armine Torosyan describe what they call carelessness and negligence on the part of head of the maternity ward in Vayk, Metaxya Hovhannisyan.

 

Later, head of the RA Ministry of Healthcare’s public relations department Shushan Hunanyan told Epress.am that a group from the ministry had gone to the hospital to assess the child’s condition. Furthermore, Epress.am learned that Vayots Dzor marz (province) police were gathering material for an investigation to look into the claims of negligence.

 

Torosyan’s relatives say the mother-to-be felt contractions on Aug. 14 so they took her to the Vayk hospital, only to be told to delay the birth as Hovhannisyan, the head of the maternity ward, was tending to household errands (beating wool for blankets and the like) and would call on the family in the evening.

 

“Our bride [a common term to refer to a daughter-in-law or sister-in-law] had a normal pregnancy — she didn’t have any problems. It’s because of Metaxya that our child has been in a coma for 15 days. The doctors say he had a accumulation of blood in.. his brain; they say he can’t be saved. It’s just that the child’s heart is healthy; he’s still alive; we don’t know what will happen. During the labor, Metaxya told us go get string, it costs 4,000 drams that string — but what was that string supposed to do if there are no stitches on our bride? She pocketed that string. Then she said go bring oil for an enema, she used one drop. She put that too in her purse,” said Tsovinar Khachatryan, the sister of Torosyan’s mother-in-law, seen in the video below.