Police have confirmed they are investigating a report that formula given to an infant at the hospital contained a ‘‘foreign substance’’ and had spoken to hospital staff.
Health New Zealand (HNZ) acknowledged the seriousness of the concerns raised and the distress caused, but did not comment in any detail given the incident was under active investigation.
The Dunedin mother, whom the Otago Daily Times has agreed not to name, said she and her partner were considering legal options.
‘‘We’re still left without clear answers.
‘‘We’re asking for accountability, transparency and the truth about what happened to our child while she was in hospital care.’’
Their then-months-old infant Emma (name changed to protect anonymity) was admitted to the children’s ward last year after contracting a respiratory virus that affected her breathing.
She was put on a feeding tube as her breathing issues meant she could not drink from a bottle for very long.
After ripping out her own feeding tube days later, she was managing to drink from pre-made 90ml bottles.
The mother said she called for a nurse about 3am as Emma was hungry, but was told the hospital had run out of pre-made bottles.
The nurse asked if she could make up some S-26 Gold powdered formula instead, which the mother agreed to.
‘‘I was feeding her and she was getting really, really, really upset,’’ she said.
‘‘Her face was, like, bright red. She was really inconsolable.’’
Thinking it was maybe too cold, the mother tried some and said she tasted salt.
‘‘It wasn’t just someone had sprinkled a bit of salt — it was chemically salt, it tasted like melted salt.
‘‘It left a taste on my tongue for a long time after that.’’
By then, Emma had consumed about 40ml-45ml of the liquid, which was a lot for a baby’s stomach.
‘‘I pushed the button and I said: ‘You need to get a doctor in here now. I want her blood tested. I want this milk tested’.
‘‘I was just frantic.’’
Emma ‘‘violently spewed’’ covering half of the bed, and had a huge loose bowel motion.
The mother said she started to panic.
She again asked for her daughter’s blood to be tested, but was told no labs were open at that hour of the morning — a sample was only taken about six and a-half hours later.
A meeting was called between hospital staff and the mother said she was told police and Oranga Tamariki had been notified.
Security was also posted to their door and later moved inside the room.
When they went to the police station the next day, the mother said she was initially told police would not test the contents of the bottle because they thought Emma did not consume any.
After recounting her side of the story, she said police collected and tested the formula — the results showed it tested positive for a ‘‘high amount’’ of salt, she said.
Police also reassured her that she was not being investigated, and they had interviewed some of the nurses.
But this month, the mother said police told her nearly 200 families were at the hospital during their stay and it would be a waste of time and resources to investigate further.
The couple had also since had a meeting with the hospital who ‘‘couldn’t tell us anything of anything’’.
She felt ‘‘helpless’’.
‘‘What do you do in a situation like that when you’re going to a place that’s supposed to care for you?’’
She had since obtained a copy of the clinical progress notes, seen by the ODT, which described an ‘‘unexplained incident overnight’’ of ‘‘excessively salty formula milk’’.
It also listed a differential diagnosis, including ‘‘medical child abuse’’.
The mother was ‘‘shocked’’
by this and said it was hard to read.
‘‘When we had the meeting, I said: ‘It feels like you’re kind of pointing fingers at me. Do you think that I’ve done this to my daughter?’.’’
‘‘They were like: ‘No, no. We don’t think that at all ... the security here is to protect [Emma]’,’’ she said.
‘‘I was thinking, ‘they should be out there because you are the ones that gave it to her. Why are you trying to protect her from me?’.’’
She said it made ‘‘absolutely no sense at all’’.
‘‘How would I have access to salt and why would I do that to my child?’’
She believed the hospital was telling police a different version of events behind her back and were ‘‘underplaying’’ what really happened.
She understood the nurse who had given her the bottle had only started working there that week.
Photos and instructions on how to prepare milk had since been displayed at the hospital, she said.
The mother said an apology would not be good enough — Emma deserved much better than that.
She was ‘‘terrified’’ something similar could happen to another family.
‘‘This is pretty outrageous — to have salt in your baby’s formula.
‘‘It could have been fatal, could have been irreversible kidney damage.’’
Detective Constable Darrin Healy said a range of inquiries had been undertaken, including scientific testing of the formula and raw powder, as well as inquiries with hospital staff.
‘‘The infant drank only a very small amount of the formula before refusing any more — prompting the parent to taste it themselves.
‘‘There is no report or evidence of any other infant drinking the same product.’’
The foreign substance was confirmed as salt, Det Const Healy said.
‘‘Police are keeping an open mind as to what may have occurred.’’
HNZ Southern operations group director Craig Ashton said: ‘‘Investigations have been carried out both internally by HNZ and through a formal investigation by police.
‘‘As this matter remains under active police investigation, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.’’
