Hospitals’ Duty to New Parents

Hospitals say it is rare that a mother accidentally is handed the wrong newborn to hold or nurse; rarer still that she takes the wrong one home. That’s reassuring, but what’s atissue is one of a maternity wing’s most basic tasks: matching child with mother.

Unfortunately, new disclosures about accidental switches at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange indicate the problem there has been systemic. A system to prevent recurrences should be one of the hospital’s top priorities.

Last week, the hospital said it fired two nurses who were involved in an incident this month in which parents took the wrong baby home before the hospital figured it out. The hospital also said the same nurses were involved in three other, lesser mix-ups in the past year. In one last June, a mother breast-fed a newborn who was not her own. The other instances involved a baby being put in the wrong bassinet and a nurse almost giving the wrong baby to a mother.

The hospital will need to explain why repeated problems with the same nurses went uncorrected. The pattern of mistakes also suggests insufficient oversight and lack of remedial action.

St. Joseph now says it has taken several measures to increase security in the newborn ward. In addition, it promised Monday to install a new electronic monitoring system to keep track of babies.

Hospital officials say they also have established five teams of doctors, nurses and administrators to examine all procedures in the maternity wing. These steps are welcome, if late.

Officials promised to cooperate with a state investigation and have asked the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations to review the mix-ups. The results should be taken to heart by all maternity facilities.

Hospitals ought to be a source of confidence and expert assistance to new parents, not a source of concern about inadvertent baby swaps.