The Miracles Of Life And The Tragedies Of Death

An unwed mother underwent an illegal abortion and delivered a live 500 gram foetus. Someone noted a moving ‘product’ in the dustbin and brought it to our hospital. As a basic relief manoeuvre, the foetus got a table and a small bulb above for warmth. Everyone waited for the child to stop moving. It did not for 48 hours. So, we put an oxygen mask on the child and started feeding through a tube.

- Pingali Gopal

Undoubtedly, it surprised everyone as the girl refused to die — defying all scientific rules. The staff started feeding her randomly whenever any member had the time. The attempt was to make the baby comfortable in the ‘last moments’, which were simply not coming.

The cry became increasingly vigorous and we started a more planned sort of feeding. he only question, a mixture f hope and apparent cruelty, in the hospital those days was, Is she gone?’ The answer remained firmly in the negative.

Later, the hospital owner took the girl to her house and started wonderful personal care. Six months later, she weighed a healthy 3 kg. Along the way were a few collapses, some near-death episodes, and a miraculous recovery each time.

A good couple later adopted the child. The child did not have the slightest physical or mental abnormality at one year of age, which is when we last saw her. This child who had no business to live defied every single law of medicine.

As a side story; the husband came to know about his wife’s pre-marital affair and left her. The sad mother, facing loneliness and isolation, came to know that her attempted abortion had failed and made a gentle attempt to reclaim her child. But her parents simply dissuaded her from that.