Baby girl's twice fall from 5th floor shocks nation
Deliveryman Yang Yanfeng rescues the baby from a safety net in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, on November 30. A dent caused by the baby's fall can be seen.
Police are investigating a baby girl’s fall from her home and will evaluate her mother’s mental status after she allegedly threw her daughter out of a fifth-floor apartment window twice in Shijiazhuang, Hebei Province, The Beijing News reported.
The 4-month-old baby is in the intensive care unit of Children’s Hospital of Shijiazhuang after sustaining a severe brain injury, bruising and bleeding from her lungs, said Huang Bo, the doctor in charge of the unit, adding she is in a stable condition.
The baby was finally hospitalized at around 10pm on Monday, seven days after the second time she had been thrown out of a window since shortly after birth.
The baby lying on a moldy bed in her home.
The incident has drawn nationwide attention after the father refused treatment for his daughter with shocking nonchalance.
After the second fall, the baby was rescued by a deliveryman, Yang Yanfeng, who found her lying on a metal protective net wearing only a diaper.
“She became purple due to the coldness," Yang said. "Her hands and legs were still moving but her body was freezing cold."
She was immediately sent to the Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University. Despite her serious injuries, the baby's father, surnamed Zheng, refused treatment and brought her home.
The father refuses treatment for his daughter, claiming he's skilled in baby care.
Zheng said he wasn't home when the fall happened.
When volunteers visited the baby at her home, she was lying on a moldy bed. Zheng didn’t allow volunteers to change her clothes or quilts.
When asked why he brought her back home from the hospital, Zheng claimed he's studied how to take care of babies, and once worked as a care worker and helper.
“Taking care of babies is my specialty," he said. "The hospital has too many germs, while our home has a much better environment."
A neighbor surnamed Zhang told The Beijing News that the baby was first thrown out of the building only five days after her birth, which Zheng admitted. Neighbors rescued her.
Zheng said he installed protective railings on the balcony after the first fall.
Community officials visited the baby every day after November 30, urging the father to allow treatment, which he declined. Officials took the baby to the hospital on December 2 and 5, but each time the father took her home.
The baby’s mother, surnamed Wei, was persuaded to check into a medical institution for treatment on December 4, and the baby was sent to the children's hospital on December 7.
