‘Stillborn’ Baby Found by Grieving Mother Alive in Argentinian Morgue

A premature baby thought to be stillborn was found by her mother, alive, after 12 hours in a morgue in northern Argentina.

Analia Bouter was only six months pregnant when she went into labor and gave birth to a baby girl she’d planned to name Liliana Abigail or Luciana Abigail. The baby was to be her fifth child, but when the little girl was born on April 3rd at 10:24 AM, doctors told Bouter that her daughter was stillborn. The distraught parents returned home to grieve, in possession of a death certificate citing “unknown causes” instead of their baby girl.

But Bouter couldn’t bear to leave her daughter in the morgue without at least getting a picture of the child- and she got a massive shock when she returned to visit her baby’s “body.” The mother of five said she believed she was hallucinating, because when the drawer in which the child resided was opened, she heard a cry- and she says she observed her tiny, frost-covered child breathing after twelve hours in the morgue refrigerator.

Bouter says:

“We went to the morgue, and they showed us the casket nailed closed. My husband managed to open the drawer, where we found her wrapped in a white sheet and saw her tiny hand touch her face… I fell to my knees.”

She explains that the little girl was literally ice cold after her half-day languishing in the drawer:

“My baby was born at 10:24am and at 11:05am was already in the drawer. She spent 12 hours in the freezing cold of that morgue. I saw for myself the ice on her body.”

Investigations are underway as to how the error could have occurred. Chaco province undersecretary for health Rafael Sabatinelli said the incident will be investigated fully, and commented:

“Every member of the team that was involved has some responsibility, so they will have to answer for this.”

After the strange circumstances of her birth and survival, the baby’s parents have opted to call her “Luz Milagros,” which roughly translates to “Miracle Light.”