The Philippine Online Chronicles

Doctors in a hospital in Melbourne, Australia aborted a healthy 32-week-old fetus by mistake, reports The Independent.

A woman who was pregnant with twin boys agreed to have one of them aborted when it was discovered to have a congenital heart defect.

However doctors injected the healthy twin.

Following this, the woman had an emergency caesarian section wherein the sick fetus was delivered and then terminated.

"The Royal Women's Hospital can confirm a distressing clinical accident occurred on Tuesday," said a statement from the hospital.

“This is a terrible tragedy and the hospital is deeply sorry for the loss suffered by the patient and her family," it added. “We are conducting a full investigation and continue to offer the family and affected staff every support."

Australian Health Minister David Davis added an independent expert would oversee a separate investigation.

“I am very much determined to get to the bottom of what went wrong,” he said

State Premier Ted Baillieu described the incident as a “horrible tragedy”.

"I don't think it's appropriate for anybody to draw any conclusions other than this is a horrible tragedy,” he said. “We'll make sure that the investigation is as thorough as it can be.”

Health Services Commissioner Beth Wilson added that the incident, “doesn't sound like it's some terrible systemic error; it just sounds like it's one of those ghastly mistakes that human beings sometimes make, unfortunately.”

The woman's family has asked for privacy "at what has been a very difficult time for us".