Selected legislation and jurisprudence: European court of human rights

摘要

On 30 March 2005 the applicant, who was pregnant and in pain, was taken by her husband to a public hospital. She gave birth the next day by caesarean section to a boy who was premature. The baby shortly afterwards developed breathing difficulties. As there was no suitable neonatal unit in that hospital, the doctors decided to transfer the baby to another public hospital 110 km away. On 1 April 2005 at around 1.15 a.m. that hospital refused to admit the child on the ground that there was no space in the neonatal intensive care unit. Around 2 a.m., the child was transferred to an obstetrics centre, where the duty doctor explained that there were no incubators available and suggested that the parents take him back to the public hospital. On their arrival there, the doctors again refused to admit the baby owing to a lack of space in the neonatal unit. The child subsequently died in the ambulance.