THE Morant Bay police have launched an investigation into the death of a one-day-old baby at the Princess Margaret Hospital in St Thomas.

A source said the newborn, Omario Wilson, died under “questionable circumstances” last week Thursday. Medical staff, said the source, had induced labour on the mother.

Head of the St Thomas police, Superintendent Jonathan Morrison, confirmed that the investigation was underway.

At the same time, public relations officer at the South East Regional Health Authority (SERHA), Taneisha Lewis, said an internal probe was being done.

“We are aware of the death of the child and are doing our own investigation,” Lewis said.

The baby’s mother, Tasheka Dawkins, who has accused the hospital of negligence, claimed that an autopsy to ascertain the cause of the baby’s death was postponed because hospital staff refused to hand over the file to the pathologist.

“I was told the doctor said him not giving over the file and that the autopsy has to be done at the children’s hospital (in Kingston),” she claimed.

Dawkins said that her child seemed to have experienced respiratory problems. “The baby looked like him was ‘gapping’ and I begged two nurses who were on the phone and they never pay me no mind. Them say nothing no do him and me nuh fi worry up meself,” Dawkins said.

Her worst fears, she said, were realised when she saw a doctor rushing to the area where the baby was being kept before taking the child into a room.

“Them lock the door and say me can’t come in, and little after, me see the doctor come and tell me say me must sit down. Him ask me if I know the baby born with breathing problems and then tell me say him dead,” Dawkins alleged.

The woman, between sobs, said hospital staff had induced labour as she was considered a high-risk patient because of high blood pressure.

“Them never even tell me what them was doing; them just give me medication and tell me to lie down,” she said.

She said she noticed the child becoming blue in the hands, hours after he was born.

“Him hands start get blue and me get worried and call a nurse who took him and put him in an incubator. I never feel right about it at all,” she said.