Tracking Devices To Be Attached To Newborns

Yes, you heard it right. Tracking devices could be attached to newborns and their mothers in hospital to stop babies being swapped or abducted.

The Daily Mail has reported an Adelaide hospital is seeking information about the use of the electronic tracking devices, which could replace the age-old name tags we love to keep as a memento in our baby books.

The Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital say the electronic device would prevent babies from being placed with the wrong mother after birth.

Yep. I know what you’re thinking … does this happen often? A child being placed with the wrong mother?

It’s a nightmare scenario: You give birth to a healthy baby at the hospital, give it a name, take it home to nurture and care for it, and introduce it to the world . . . only to find out later that you were sent home with the wrong child.

By the time the mistake is realised, you can’t fathom being expected to hand over a child you already consider your own. Yet somewhere out there is another family caught in the same quagmire. They too, left the hospital with the wrong bundle “” your biological child.

It’s frightening. And yes, it does happen.

The need for a tracking device

Apparently this tracking device scenario is not new either, in fact tracking devices are being used in hospitals in the US and Canada. They have even prevented babies from being abducted from the maternity wards there … apparently.

When speaking about the devices being introduced into hospitals, Nursing and Midwifery Federation state secretary Elizabeth Dabars told ABC News the electronic bracelet made a ‘reassuring chirp’ when the right mother and the right baby were placed together.

“That chirp does not occur when it’s the wrong baby and the wrong mother,” she said.

“We must do all that we can to protect babies and of course keep their mothers safe as well.”

In a statement, the Adelaide Women’s and Children’s Hospital, who are driving the research into the device, said it was part of a broader review in to its IT systems.

“Earlier this month, we put a request for information to the market regarding electronic tracking within out hospital, including tracking medical equipment and the potential for using electronic tags to monitor mothers and their newborn babies,” the statement said.

“Current practices are completely safe and there have been no cases of babies being lost.

“This process reflects a desire to ensure we remain at the forefront of safe and modern practises.”

South Australian Health Minister Jack Snelling told ABC News while maternity wards are safe and secure, he would consider anything that improved a baby’s safety.

“We must do all that we can to protect babies and of course keep their mothers safe as well.”

‘We have strict rules around who’s allowed into nurseries to make sure our babies are kept safe,” he told ABC News.

“I can’t think of a case where a baby has been taken from one of our maternity hospitals, certainly not in recent times in any case.”

Featured image from qz.com