Newborn burned in hospital bassinet fire

MINNEAPOLIS, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- A day-old boy was in critical condition in Minneapolis Thursday after his hospital bassinet caught fire, hospital officials said.

The infant identified only as Maverick sustained second- and third-degree burns over 17 percent of his upper body Tuesday as he was just 12 hours old, the St. Paul (Minn.) Pioneer-Press reported.

The baby was born Wednesday slightly premature at the Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids, north of Minneapolis, and therefore was under an oxygen hood, hospital officials said.

A nurse spotted the fire and scooped the baby out. The child was transferred to Hennepin County Medical Center's neonatal intensive care unit in Minneapolis.

The 8-pound child was burned on the scalp, cheeks, shoulders and hands and was being kept in a drug-induced coma to help with healing, said Dr. Leslie Smith.

"He will be able to use his fingers and hands and run," Smith said. She said he should have a "quite normal life" after overcoming the critical period.

Hospital owner Allina Health System issued a statement expressing sympathies and said a thorough investigation should "prevent anything like it from happening again," the newspaper said.