Baby dies as doctors scuffle

Brazilian authorities are investigating a scuffle between two doctors in a hospital delivery room while a woman was in labour to see whether it contributed to the death of her newborn daughter.

Globo TV said witnesses reported one doctor got angry because the other doctor was summoned to deliver the baby for Gislaine de Matos Rodrigues, 32, even though he was not scheduled to be on duty. The baby reportedly died of asphyxiation following complications.

Both doctors were fired by the public hospital in the small city of Ivinhema near the border with Paraguay, but investigators have not determined whether the fight played a role in the baby's death.

One of the doctors admitted to Globo TV that there was an altercation, but blamed his colleague. "I didn't get in a fight with him," said Sinomar Ricardo. "He got into a fight with me." The station said it was unable to interview the second doctor.

The mother said a third doctor had taken over after hospital security guards removed the other two, but her baby girl was dead upon delivery.