Pink or blue plastic bracelets with the date of birth and the name and surname. Babies have thus been “ringed” on the wrist or ankle for forty years in French maternity hospitals. This practice aims to avoid the exchange of babies by mistake, as what happened twenty years ago on two newborns, Manon and Mathilde, born in a Cannes clinic. The trial, which opened Tuesday in Grasse (Côte d’Azur), recalls the importance of wearing a bracelet to avoid these accidents, with serious consequences for the lives of the babies concerned and their families.
It was in 1994 that Manon and Mathilde were confused, when they were placed in the same cradle under a lamp. They did not wear a birth bracelet, although it was compulsory. It was only ten years later that paternity tests confirmed the doubts of the parents of each of the two girls.
The two families are claiming 12 million euros in damages and interest in maternity. Two midwives, two pediatricians, the clinic, and a nursing assistant are prosecuted in this case.
A standard in maternity wards
The medical bracelet for babies is not a new practice. It is supposed to have become widespread in all maternity hospitals. In a note on the safety of care at birth, the High Health Authority specifically mentions the “fitting of an identification bracelet” among the care to be provided to the baby. after his birth.
This identification bracelet is part of the principle of “identitovigilance”. This barbaric term designates a “system for monitoring and managing risks and errors linked to the identification of patients”.
In fact, identification bracelets do not only concern babies but all people who are unable to identify themselves: patients in a coma for example or placed under general anesthesia, or even patients suffering from dementia such as dementia. ‘Alzheimer’s.
