Evangelina Vásquez, a 29-year-old graduate student at the National University of Mexico, was pregnant with her first child in 1994. At her initial prenatal check-up, the university clinic alerted her that her blood type was A-negative, suggesting her pregnancy was at risk and would need special monitoring.
Vásquez's next check-up was at a public clinic, where a nurse informed her that her blood type was A-positive. She questioned the results, but the clinic staff reassured her and sent her on her way.
At nine months, Vásquez went into labor and was admitted to a public hospital. During a two-day stay, she had strong contractions and her water broke, yet the hospital sent her home because she had not dilated. After an anxious night, she decided to go to a private clinic, where a doctor diagnosed her with fetal distress and ordered an emergency cesarean. Baby Uriel was born on March 9, 1995.
But the problems did not stop there. Despite the diagnosis of fetal distress, the hospital discharged both mother and baby just two days after the birth, Vásquez recalls as she recounts the chain of medical errors. "They knew my baby had had problems, but they failed to monitor him closely. He had yellow patches on his skin, but they sent us home and told me to give him sunbaths. By the following day, he had fever and his breathing was agitated. I took him to another hospital near my home, and they told me he had suffered permanent brain damage as a result of fetal distress and neonatal jaundice."
Today 9-year-old Uriel has major developmental delays, walks with difficulty and suffers from involuntary movements. Thanks to medication, his hyperactivity and convulsions are now under control. Nine years of special medical care and therapy have cost his mother nearly her entire salary as a university employee.
But what is "really sad," says Vásquez, is that "simple things could have prevented this. If I'd had a simple vaccine [Rh-immune globulin], he wouldn't have suffered the fetal distress or jaundice. And a simple blood test could have diagnosed the jaundice, which could have been treated with ultraviolet light. Just these simple things and closer observation would have meant that today my son would have a normal life."
—the editor