07 September 2012

3-Day Old Baby Kidnapped

Baby Kidnapped
Soon-to-be-parents should be warned that there is a possibility that criminal elements might strike when they are most vulnerable – after giving birth. An incident was just reported in Quezon City last 4 September 2012 where a woman pretended to be a doctor kidnapped a newborn in a private hospital.

Police just released the artist sketch of the suspect and have launched a massive manhunt for the woman. QCPD director Chief Superintendent Mario de la Vega described the suspect to be in her late 30s, about 5’5” in height and fair-skinned.

"The baby could have been placed in the bag," De la Vega said after the hospital guard told police that the suspect was seen carrying a big shoulder bag.

The infant's mother, Maria Cecilia de los Santos, said a woman clad in a doctor’s suit approached her at the OB-Gyne ward of the Sta. Teresita General Hospital at around 4:00 A.M. The woman allegedly took her baby for a supposed to be newborn screening test but she never returned.

The Department of Health (DOH) has also ordered an investigation into the kidnapping of the three-day-old baby and Health Undersecretary Ted Herbosa said they will determine the possible liability of the hospital.

"We will investigate this incident and see if there are any liabilities or negligence on the part of the hospital. These things should not be happening. Imagine a baby being kidnapped inside a hospital," Herbosa said.

Herbosa said he can already see some "probable cause" to penalize the hospital management.

Herbosa said there is an obvious lax in security on the entry and exit of people from the hospital premises as well as the inefficiency of the nurses on duty.