Abandoned baby dies after 2-week coma

A newborn who was thrown in a trash bin in Valenzuela City passed away before dawn yesterday after almost two weeks in a coma.

“Baby Jade” died at around 4: 15 a. m. at the Philippine Children’s Medical Center (PCMC), said Valenzuela Mayor Rexlon Gatchalian.

“She passed away with her family by her side,” he added, noting that the baby’s father and the parents and siblings of Baby Jade’s mother were there.

The PCMC has yet to release its billing for Baby Jade’s hospitalization, which will be shouldered by the city government and private donors, Gatchalian said.

She was admitted to the Valenzuela City Emergency Hospital and later brought to the PCMC upon recommendation by doctors.

Reports earlier quoted doctors as saying Baby Jade suffered from sepsis and cranial hemorrhage due to the dirt she was exposed to when she was put in a plastic bag and a box and thrown in a trash bin.

Gatchalian also previously said doctors told him she had only 50 percent chance at life.

Netizen Bam Siao Lim found the baby, with her umbilical cord still uncut, in the garbage can in front of her house at Jade Garden Townhomes in Barangay Marulas on Aug. 25.

She found the baby inside the box, which also contained “plastic, shampoo wrapper and a little dirt.”

Meanwhile, Gatchalian declined to comment on the possibility of elevating the case against Baby Jade’s supposed mother, saying the city prosecutor will work on it.

The mother, allegedly a household helper at the townhouse, was taken into custody by Valenzuela police on Sept. 1.

She was charged with frustrated infanticide by police before the city prosecutor.

Gatchalian earlier said Baby Jade’s mother was detained at the Valenzuela City Emergency Hospital and would undergo “neuropsychiatric tests and counseling” as she was found to be suffering from depression.