Argentine 'miracle' baby condition improving but critical

An Argentine newborn who survived nearly 12 hours in a coffin in a morgue after hospital workers gave her up for dead is in critical condition, showing a series of complications common among infants born three months premature, a doctor said Thursday.Tiny Luz Milagros, or Miracle Light, is suffering from sepsis and convulsions along with signs of neurological damage, said Dr. Diana Vesco, neonatology chief at the Perrando hospital in Resistencia in northern Chaco province. She said the baby is on a ventilator and being treated with antibiotics.Her mother, Analia Bouter, said she got a supportive call from President Cristina Fernandez on Wednesday asking to see the baby once shes out of intensive care.That could be a while.Luz Milagros faces a risk of death commonly associated with her weight and gestational age at birth, said Vesco.The case became public Tuesday when Chacos deputy health minister, Rafael Sabatinelli, announced that five medical professionals had been suspended pending an official investigation of what happened.Bouter told the TeleNoticias TV channel that doctors gave her a death certificate just 20 minutes after the baby was born and the baby was quickly put in a coffin and taken to the morgues refrigeration room. Twelve hours passed before she and her husband were able to open the coffin to say their last goodbyes.She said thats when the baby trembled. She thought it was her imagination then she realized the little girl was alive and dropped to her knees on the morgue floor in shock.The baby was so cold that it was like carrying a bottle of ice, Bouter said.The hospitals medical director, Jose Luis Meirino, said the facility has strict procedures and the girl was born with no apparent vital signs. The newborn was attended by obstetricians, gynecologists and a neonatologist, he said.About what happened afterward, we have no explanation, he said.