Doctor Accidentally Declares Newborn Infant Dead — And People Are Outraged

One of the most stressful times during my life was watching my wife go through labor during the birth of our first child. 

As much as I tried to keep cool and crack jokes and make her feel comfortable throughout the entire experience (I really didn't know how to handle it at all), I was definitely freaking out. So much so that I became an emotional void, and it burned me up that I couldn't feel anything. I can only imagine what my wife was experiencing during the entire ordeal, because there's no way I could ever understand what it's like to gestate a human being and undergo such excruciating pain, wondering and hoping the entire time both me and that kid are going to come out OK.

But I can fathom the horror this new mother felt when her doctor accidentally declared one of her babies was dead upon delivery.

Max Shalimar, a doctor in India delivered twin children and mistakenly declared that one of the babies was dead. He put the infant's body in plastic and then in a box and didn't notice the kid was alive until 45 minutes later.

The horror was palpable, even through the impersonal medium of modern social media.

People, understandably, wanted to know how the baby was faring.

There are conflicting reports about the baby's health, however.

It was also pointed out that hospital protocol was breached in the doctor's declaration of the child's death. Two doctors are required to declare a baby dead officially, so some Twitter users wanted to know just how in the world one of the twins was declared dead by a single doctor.

The outrageous incident got so much press that not only was Shalimar placed on leave, but the Delhi government is now being asked to intervene and conduct an official investigation as to who is at fault.

If the inquiry is entertained and Shalimar and the hospital are found guilty of wrongdoing, some strong actions can be taken against them.

Max Healthcare, the company that manages the Hospital Shalimar works in, issued a statement on the premature birth of the two twins.

According to their information, the twins were born prematurely, one was a stillbirth and Doctor Shalimar must've assumed the other was, too.

So much for the hippocratic oath.