About ?False Statements?

I find the article ?Elle accuse l?hôpital d?avoir volé son bébé? which appeared in l?express on 16.09.04 to be a selective, inaccurate and biased reporting of the court session concerning above case on 15.09.04.

To say that I was the ?médecin traitant? is inaccurate as the concerned patient was referred to me for a specialist opinion only a few days before delivery. As for being ?pas très loquace face aux questions de Me Mohamed?, the article does not mention to which question I did not answer. Of course, I could not read or comment on entries made by other people on the patient?s obstetric card at the local area health centre. I was not the gynaecologist on call the night the patient delivered, so I could not comment on entries made in the patient?s file just before delivery.

To say that documents attesting that there was a single fetus on ultra-sound were not produced is untrue. The patient?s hospital file was produced in court and made available to Me Y. Mohamed for consultation. My ultra-sound report was there and I had read the report in court.

Concerning printouts of ultra-sound, the article mentions that they were not done but does not mention that Dr A. Dustageer, consultant radiologist had clearly explained why printouts at the end of pregnancy could not in any way be a piece of evidence to prove single or multiple pregnancy and that was the reason why they were not taken.

Dr Mrs I. THACOOR Gynaecologist and obstetrician

Our reply

L?express did not publish a court reporting of the case of the lost baby. We decided rather to tell the story of this couple who has allegedly lost one of his twins. The essentials of the court hearing were however also inserted in the paper.The doctor admits she was unforthcoming in her answers and gives reasons for this. Fair enough. Although files were submitted to the court, printouts were not available. Dr Dustageer explained he saw no reason to make these printouts because the request to perform the ultra sound was a verbal one. He did however insist that printouts could not be used as a piece of evidence to prove single or multiple pregnancy.