A newborn baby will have to endure a year of medical tests for HIV and hepatitis after he was breastfed by another new mother because he was accidentally put in the wrong bassinet on Wednesday at a Minneapolis hospital, ABC News reported.
The mix-up occurred at Abbott Northwestern Hospital when Tammy Van Dyke's newborn son, Cody, was accidentally put in the wrong bassinet in the nursery. "You put your baby in the nursery, not even 48-hours old, and you think they're safe," Van Dyke told ABC News today. "I'm holding it together. I'm just in disbelief, and it was like I was in a dream, a bad dream, and I couldn't get it to stop," ABC News reported.
Van Dyke, 40, from Apple Valley, put her son Cody in the nursery Tuesday night for one final night before she planned to take him home on Wednesday. At some point during the night, the baby was accidentally brought to the wrong room and breast-fed by a different new mom before the hospital realized the mistake, the StarTribune reported.
Van Dyke said "Cody and the other woman, who had given birth to twins, were given blood tests to make sure they were not exposed to any infectious diseases, such as hepatitis or HIV, that can be transmitted through breast milk. All the tests were negative, she said -- but Cody will have to be retested every three months for a year," the StarTribune reported.
Hospital spokeswoman Gloria O'Connell said the tests were "just a precaution," but declined to elaborate because of patient confidentiality, ABC News reported.
The hospital issued a public apology Wednesday, acknowledging the error and saying that its own safety procedures apparently "were not followed in this case," the StarTribune reported.
