This story was reported in the "Jakarta Post" "Baby Confiscation goes to police"
A couple whose baby was reportedly "confiscated" because they were unable to pay for its delivery have reported their midwife to the Bali Police, accusing her of human trafficking.
The couple have accused their midwife of "confiscating" their baby for financial purposes. The couple also felt that the midwife was not displaying ‘goodwill’ over the issue.
The parents could not afford to pay their bill of 1.5 million rupee (Rp) after the delivery so the father left the mother and baby at the clinic until he could return with the money to pay his debts.
He returned three weeks later with 1.Million rupee and hoped that this would be enough for his family to return home with him. However the midwife had added a further 4.5 million to the bill for expenses totaling 6 million Rp. He was forced to sign an agreement stipulating that he must leave one of his sons at the clinic to assure he would return to pay his debt or in order to be released from all his debts.
The midwife is defending the charges and disputed the amount of fees charged as only 2.5 million, and has a lawyer representing her.
The midwife is under investigation for Human Trafficking, possible adoption issues and child protection laws.
The human trafficking laws carries a penalty of between 3 and 15 years in prison and a fine of between Rp 60 million and Rp 300 million (US$27,000).
This is a sad story and certainly contravenes any Code of Ethics throughout the world.
I am thankful that I work in Australia as a midwife and do not have to deal with these issues.
What do you think?
3 comments:
We do live in a lucky country. It would be nice to have all babies born free of charge.
ethnic vs money which is more important to the smooth running of the organisation? the idea of keeping one of the debtor's son is a bad idea too, imagine the money involve for lodging and feeding the boy. this is a lose-lose situation. =( where is the social help?!
Remember the old saying "money is the root of all evil" there is money to be made in some countries for selling people even though it is against all Human Rights. Unfortunately not all countries are as supportive with social help as we are in Australia.
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