Miami, Florida - Two Infants Dead at Miami Children's Hospital
Miami, Florida - Officials from Miami-Dade County's Health Department have launched an investigation to determine the cause of death of two infants who died on consecutive days at Miami Children's Hospital. The infants died in the hospital's neonatal intensive care unit.
Fermin Leguen, the medical executive director of the Health Department acknowledged that it is very unusual for two infants to die on consecutive days in the same hospital because of an infection.
Vincent Conte, a senior physician from the epidemiology and disease control unit said he was contacted by the hospital on Monday morning and notified that "two babies had died from what they assumed was some sort of infection and that another infant was ill." Conte said the third baby who was infected with the bacteria is improving but is still facing a number of other medical problems.
The hospital released the following statement on Wednesday:
``The hospital extends deepest sympathy to the families of the babies. We have taken all appropriate precautions to protect the health and safety of our patients and families. We continue to examine this matter in detail. At this time, the results of our examination are inconclusive. Due to privacy laws we are unable to give specific patient information.''
We trust our hospitals to care for the most vulnerable in our population and there is no more vulnerable segment of our population than premature infants in a hospital's neonatal intensive care unit. When hospitals fail to take reasonable precautions to protect these fragile patients, they are negligent and the harm which results can be devastating to families.
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