A blessing turned into tragedy for the Davtyan family in the Shirak Province village of Mayisyan.

When Hetq visited the family last June, Vesmira was already a mother of five and expecting twins in September.

Narek and Nareh, a boy and a girl, arrived into the world on September 26.

Little Nareh died six months later, on March 14, 2015 at the Gyumri Mother and Child Hospital after being diagnosed with congenital hydrocephalus.

Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, head of the Shirak Province Dept. of Health and Social Insurance, told Hetq by phone that Nareh underwent a battery of tests at the hospital in Gyumri, including an MRI scan. But Vesmira isn’t convinced and wants to know exactly what her daughter died from.

Vesmira’s husband Armen Tavtyan told Hetq that the doctors found no outward signs of medical complications with the twins after they were born. It was only two months later that Vesmira noticed the baby girl shaking during the morning hours. When the shakes became more frequent the girl’s mother became more concerned and took her to the hospital twice.

“I took her to the Gyumri hospital twice and once to Yerevan for tests. The first time was on December 5. The baby had the shakes and a fever. She stayed there for 10-12 days in the resuscitation unit. But with New Year’s coming up, I got her to Yerevan a bit late, on January 6. The last time, they told us she had pneumonia,” Mr. Tavtyan told Hetq.

The parents learnt of the death of their child one hour late. A clerk at the hospital made a mistake when writing down their telephone number.

“They told us not to worry, that the baby was alright. So we left and returned to the village. We only found out that something was wrong because the hospital managed to get in touch with others in the village and told us to come back. That’s when they broke the news to us. We are more than irritated ad angry that they didn’t tell us the truth in the first place. Now they can make up any story. To be honest, whatever complaint I make won’t bring my child back. All I want to know is what could have been done, that wasn’t to save her,” says the distraught father.

Narek, the other twin, seems to be alright and has not shown similar symptoms up till now. But Mr. Tavtyan says the boy’s legs seem to be weak.

When asked why they haven’t contacted law enforcement about the case, the parents say that they do not blame the doctors for their baby’s death and that all they want is the truth to come out.

“Specifically, all we want to know is if our mistake caused the death or theirs,” said Mr. Tavtyan.