JERUSALEM (VINnews) — A newborn baby was rushed to the hospital in serious condition Wednesday night after being found without a pulse or breathing following a home birth in Jerusalem’s Givat Shaul neighborhood. United Hatzalah emergency medical personnel performed advanced resuscitation and successfully restored the infant’s heartbeat before transporting the baby to Shaare Zedek Medical Center for further treatment.

The incident has raised suspicions that the apartment was being used as an unauthorized birthing facility operating outside the hospital system. According to witness accounts, at least three deliveries at the location have reportedly involved complications requiring resuscitation of the newborns. Police detained the doula who accompanied the latest delivery for questioning as part of an investigation into the circumstances of the incident.

United Hatzalah said its emergency dispatch center initially received a call reporting a woman in labor. By the time emergency personnel arrived at the apartment, the baby had already been delivered and was being held by the mother. An initial medical examination revealed that the newborn was unconscious, not breathing, and had no detectable pulse.

Professor Jeffrey Kashuk and Dr. Aryeh Yaffe, both volunteer physicians with United Hatzalah, joined paramedic Shuki Becker and EMT Dudi Rosenwald from the organization’s intensive care ambulance team in providing emergency treatment. The medical team immediately began advanced neonatal resuscitation. After successfully restoring the infant’s heartbeat, they transported the baby in the intensive care ambulance to Shaare Zedek Medical Center in serious condition.

The investigation is expected to examine whether the apartment was being used regularly for deliveries, whether appropriate medical supervision and emergency equipment were available, and whether those involved were authorized to provide the services offered..

Under Israeli Health Ministry regulations, home births are permitted under specified medical and safety conditions. They must be attended by an appropriately qualified midwife or obstetrician, with suitable emergency equipment and arrangements for rapid transfer to a hospital if complications arise.

The ministry requires professionals attending home births to have neonatal resuscitation training and recommends that deliveries take place within approximately 30 minutes of a hospital maternity ward. It also states that licensed hospital delivery rooms are generally safer for mothers and newborns.