A team of national experts has been hired to find out why fire burst out in a newborn baby's bassinet at Mercy Hospital this week, burning the child over nearly 18 percent of his body, a hospital official said Friday.
Dr. Penny Wheeler, of Allina Hospitals & Clinics, expressed her sympathy to the boy's family and vowed that the hospital would do everything possible to find out what went wrong.
The boy, named Maverick, remains in critical but stable condition at Hennepin County Medical Center.
"Our prayers are with them," said Wheeler, chief clinical officer for Allina, which owns Mercy in Coon Rapids. "As a mother and obstetrician ... I can't even imagine the pain of going from one of the most joyous experiences in life to tragedy within a span of 12 hours."
Wheeler said the fire started "spontaneously" inside an oxygen hood, a plastic dome that covered the baby's head as he lay in the bassinet. He was just 12 hours old at the time, in a nursery with six other babies.
Wheeler said that two nurses were standing right next to the baby, about to take his vital signs, when the fire erupted. She said they extinguished the flames "within seconds" and had "undoubtedly" saved the baby from even worse injuries. "We are extraordinarily proud of our nurses," she said, adding that they were traumatized by the event.
The baby's condition "is still just touch and go," according to Chris Messerly, the family's lawyer. The boy suffered second- and third-degree burns on his scalp, shoulders, hands and cheeks, and was in a medically induced coma. "He hasn't really gotten much better, but he hasn't gotten any worse," Messerly said Friday. "So far, this little kid is holding his own."
Maverick's mother was able to touch him for the first time Thursday, wearing a surgical gown and gloves because of concern about infecting the wounds, Messerly said. The family, which lives near Elk River, has asked not to be identified publicly.
