Father alleges that baby daughter suffered injuries while in hospital

A father is alleging that his one-month-old baby daughter suffered injuries while she was under the care of KK Women's and Children's Hospital (KKH).

Mr Muhd Darok Mohd Shaffir said that he found that the skin on his daughter's feet was torn and there were bruises and wounds on her feet when he visited her at the hospital, reports Berita Harian.

At the time, his daughter, who was born on Oct 19, was placed in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit because she had difficulty breathing and required oxygen assistance.

When asked to comment yesterday, KKH said that it could not share information about the case because it did not have permission from Mr Muhd Darok to do so.

Miss Audrey Lau, Director of the Corporate Development, KKH, said: "We have contacted the family, but they refused to give permission to us to share the information with the media.

"Therefore, we are not able to give more details because we do not have approval to share the personal details of the patient."

Mr Muhd Darok, a waiter at a coffee shop, told Berita Harian yesterday that when he visited his daughter about two weeks after she was born, he felt uneasy when the hospital's staff instructed him to wait outside while they attended to her.

"It was then that I saw the injuries on my daughter's feet, which looked like what happens to our skin when it is dragged. I was shocked, angry and sad all at the same time. Imagine how I felt when I saw my daughter, who was perfect when she was born, with those injuries," he said.

According to Mr Muhd Darok, staff at KKH told him that the injuries were a result of his daughter's movement when the staff tried to attach an IV drip to her for a small operation.

"What has really made me mad is that they did not inform us at all of the procedure that they did on my daughter, or about the injuries that she sustained.

"If something like this has happened, we, as her parents, should definitely have been informed," he exclaimed, adding that KKH had refused to tell him which doctor or nurse had attended to his daughter.

According to Berita Harian, Mr Muhd Darok said he had lodged a complaint with the hospital's management and is seeking monetary compensation for his family.

His daughter was discharged from hospital on Nov 15.

seanyap@sph.com.sg