Warning over home births, vaccine refusal after unregistered baby case in Hong Kong
Doctor says unassisted home births carry extremely high risks, following arrest of baby Danny’s parents over refusal to provide DNA test
Unassisted home births and vaccine refusal put mothers and newborns at life-threatening risk, a Hong Kong doctor and a children’s rights group have said, stressing that parental choice must not come at the expense of an infant’s well-being.
Their warnings followed the arrest of a Hong Kong couple on suspicion of child neglect. The pair claimed to have given birth to their third child, Danny, at home and had not registered his birth, citing privacy concerns in refusing to submit to a DNA test.
While home births are not illegal in Hong Kong, they are not recommended by the city’s Midwives Council.
Patrick Ip Pak-keung, a clinical professor at the University of Hong Kong’s department of paediatrics and adolescent medicine, said on Wednesday that unassisted home births carried extremely high risks for both mother and child.
“If complications arise during delivery, such as dystocia, where the baby’s head becomes stuck, it could instantly cause oxygen deprivation in infants,” he told a radio show.
Ip noted that past cases of unassisted home births had involved bacterial infections due to poor hygiene or accidents in which infants fell onto the floor or into the toilet.