A 29-year-old woman with an intellectual disability, named Elizabeth Vásquez, ended up giving birth at her home, in the commune of San Bernardo, Chile, being assisted in an emergency by her own sister.
The family reported with great helplessness that, just a few hours before the birth on June 4, they urgently went twice to Hospital El Pino because of the intense labor pains; however, the medical staff refused to admit her and sent her back home at 4 am, assuring that “she still had some time to go” before giving birth.
Fortunately, both the mother and the baby are stable after later being transferred by ambulance, but the hospital is already under intense scrutiny and faces an internal investigation over this serious error.