Dead Baby Found Outside Jamaican Hospital Not A Patient, Health Authority Says

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Health officials in Jamaica say a dead baby found just outside the island's largest maternity hospital was not a patient there.

The chairman for the South East Regional Health Authority is disputing a police account that a woman threw the newborn girl out the hospital's second-story window early Thursday.

Lyttleton Shirley said Friday that no babies are missing from the maternity ward or the morgue at Victoria Jubilee Hospital in Kingston.

He said the hospital is auditing a list of all mothers discharged in recent days to help police with the investigation.

Police did not return calls for comment.

Comments

[jweider]

06:38 PM on 01/02/2011

Should I start fact checking all of HP's stories on snopes.com?

[EmmaLib]

02:24 PM on 01/02/2011

Well, I hope they find that the baby had died of natural causes and was left there for burial, because not all babies survive. Sad we jump to the worst scenario, but it is a slow news week.

[fortressfountain]

04:35 PM on 01/01/2011

Investigative reporting-everyone just jumps on the bandwagon with everyones report.
Dead infants are a reality all over the world.
No welfare like the USA.

[Defender of Truth]

04:29 PM on 01/02/2011

Are you aware that the United States' infant mortality is the highest in the industrial world.

[aznurse]

07:06 AM on 01/03/2011

what does"No welfare like the USA" mean?

[phoebequeen]

12:56 PM on 01/01/2011

Read the first article. This one doesn't read any easier though. Very sad. Have to wonder if the mother was trying to hide her pregnancy and birth.

[jws2346]

09:05 AM on 01/01/2011

Good grief, this is a insanely morbid article. How's about some INVESTIGATIVE reporting to get to the bottom of this? RIP little one.

[Deb Jesser]

03:19 AM on 01/01/2011

Whoever did this I think is likely to have a history with this hospital. When I worked at a hospital in the L.A. area there was a young woman who had once attempted to kill herself by throwing herself off an upper floor balcony. She was saved that time, but about a year later she came back, did it again, and was successful in killing herself.

[Rodeskawler]

08:05 PM on 12/31/2010

Okay, but I am pretty sure the coroner can figure out if the baby had injuries consistent with being thrown from heights. If it was high enough a lay person could likely figure it out.

[oxygen]

08:55 PM on 12/31/2010

investigative reporters - heads up!

[Richcrafter]

07:42 PM on 12/31/2010

I'd go with the hospital's account of the event. Kingston could have nothing to hide. Sure.......

[Bigleague]

10:09 PM on 12/31/2010

The baby would not have had to have been a patient, nor would the person have had to be a patient to throw the child from a window. Could have been a visitor or just they had a psychotic break and that was the closest building and they went up and threw the poor cherub out.

It doesn't even matter. The poor child is dead. :-(

[Sita001]

07:15 PM on 12/31/2010

Far be it for HP to pull the original headline and make it less sensational and actually reflect reality

[Angelic11]

06:19 PM on 12/31/2010

get back with us when there's a there, there

[aznurse]

07:08 AM on 01/03/2011

hmmm, Now I wonder what Rummy is up to lately.

[jamaicagirl]

05:24 PM on 12/31/2010

Let me be the first to say thanks to HP for the update. I was quite upset about the bad light that was casted on VJH, the largest maternity hospital in Jamaica and the Caribbean region regarding this story.

I was born there, my sister, cousins, my cousins kids. I even had a friend when her mother found out she was pregnant with twin did not allow her to go to a private hospital but straight to VJH. In Jamaica if there is serious complications with a mother during delivery this is where private hositals sent you.

Lets hope they quickly find who did this gruesome act to this baby.