Kazakh doctors put newborn in freezer to cover up negligence in declaring him stillborn, trial hears

Two doctors and a midwife have been jailed in Kazakhstan for killing a newborn baby by putting him into a morgue freezer because they had mistakenly declared him stillborn and did not want to change the paperwork

  • Two senior doctors and a midwife have been jailed for the crime in Atyrau
  • The court found they deliberately killed the boy after the mistaken diagnosis
  • Experts said the infant could have lived had it received proper medical care 
  • The crime was only uncovered after doctors discussed it on a phone that had been bugged in connection with a bribery investigation

Two doctors and a midwife who put a live baby boy into a hospital freezer and left him to die to cover up the fact that he was wrongly diagnosed as stillborn have been jailed by a court in Kazakhstan.

The boy, who was born premature on September 29, 2019 at the Atyrau Perinatal Centre, showed multiple signs of life, including moving his leg, that were ignored by the medics who also discussed drowning the infant before placing him into the freezer.

Anti-corruption police chief Shyngys Kabdula said the doctors had ‘decided to act according to paperwork already issued saying the child was stillborn,’ despite noticing the child was alive.  

The trio were found guilty on Monday of deliberately killing the baby to hide their negligence, state investigator Askarbek Ermukashev said, according to The Mirror.

Head physician Kuanysh Nysabaev – who reportedly ordered the child put in the morgue’s cold storage, despite knowing its leg had moved – was jailed for 18 years for ‘medical infanticide’. 

His accomplices –  obstetrician-gynaecologist Askar Kairzhan and midwife Jamilya Kulbatyrova – were sentenced to 16 and 15 years respectively. 

Nysanbaev is separately accused of using bribing officials to cover up medical mistakes and obtain lavish foreign holidays.   

Two doctors and a midwife have been jailed for putting a newborn baby in a morgue freezer to cover up their negligence in wrongly declaring it stillborn, a court in Kazakhstan has heard. Pictured: The defendants in court

Two doctors and a midwife have been jailed for putting a newborn baby in a morgue freezer to cover up their negligence in wrongly declaring it stillborn, a court in Kazakhstan has heard. Pictured: The defendants in court

Head physician Kuanysh Nysabaev (pictured) was reportedly the one who ordered the child put in the morgue's cold storage, despite knowing its leg had moved. He was jailed for 18 years [File photo]

Head physician Kuanysh Nysabaev (pictured) was reportedly the one who ordered the child put in the morgue’s cold storage, despite knowing its leg had moved. He was jailed for 18 years [File photo]

The three medics deliberately killed the boy to cover up their negligence and had discussed drowning the infant in water before opting to place it in the morgue freezer instead, evidence laid out at the trial showed.’

The court heard a secretly-recorded phone call in which one of the doctors asked God for forgiveness as the medics discussed the case. 

This amounted to proof of premeditation, prosecutors argued, saying the trio ‘knew what was at stake’.   

The infant boy reportedly showed signs of life despite having been registered as stillborn and experts said he could have lived had it received proper medical care. 

The maternity ward at Atyrau regional perinatal centre, where the child was born and wrongly declared stillborn [File photo]

The maternity ward at Atyrau regional perinatal centre, where the child was born and wrongly declared stillborn [File photo]

The court heard that midwife Kulbatyrova had put the boy into the freezer on the orders of the two senior doctors.   

Two others, neonatologists Ruslan Nurmakhanbetov and Dariga Dzhumabayeva were also sentenced over failure to report a crime. 

They were handed three and a half years of ‘non-custodial freedom restriction’, The Mirror reported. 

The horrific crime reportedly only came to light after detectives bugged head physician Nysabaev’s phone over a separate bribery investigation. 

‘After birth, the baby was negligently registered as stillborn, while in fact he was still alive,’ police chief Kabdula said, speaking after the crime was first uncovered in 2019.

‘After the child gave signs of life, the doctors, instead of taking urgent measures, decided to act according to paperwork already issued saying the child was stillborn.

Kabdula said that by placing the child in the freezer, the medics had ‘left the newborn to die’.  

Regional health chief Manshuk Aimurzieva resigned following the baby’s death in 2019. Speaking at the time she said she could not comment on the crime, then still under investigation, but added that: ‘Such a charge against doctors terrifies me.’

Aimurzieva was fined £8,750 for negligence in relation to a separate incident. 

Kazakhstan’s deputy health minister apologised to the family of the child following his death. 

source: dailymail.co.uk