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Russian ombudsman to help family in U.S. get baby back

SACRAMENTO, April 28 (UPI) -- A Russian children's rights advocate said he would help a Russian couple living in the United States get their baby back after authorities seized the child.

Child Protective Services in Sacramento took 5-month-old Sammy Nikolayev from his parents, Alex and Anna, after they took him to Sutter Memorial Hospital last week with flu symptoms, RIA Novosti reported.

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Doctors said the baby needed immediate heart surgery, but the parents took the child to another clinic for a second opinion without a proper discharge from the first hospital.

The Nikolayevs said they were aware of Sammy's heart murmur since he was born and he was being regularly seen by a cardiologist at Sutter every two to three weeks, RIA Novosti said. They said they didn't have reason to believe their son was in any imminent danger.

"We will offer the parents to file a complaint to return the child. The process will not be quick but I think we will succeed in this," said Pavel Astakhov, the Russian children's rights ombudsman. "The case has been certainly taken under control."

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