# An 11-Day-Old Baby Couldn’t Stop Bleeding. For Hours, the ER Didn’t Provide a Critical Vitamin Shot.

- URL: https://talkfuse.com/story/an-11-day-old-baby-couldnt-stop-bleeding-for-hours-the-er-didnt-provide-a-critical-vitamin-shot/
- Published: 2026-11-08T10:00:00+00:00
- Updated: 2026-11-08T11:27:38+00:00
- Original publisher: ProPublica (publisher lean: Centre)
- Original article: https://www.propublica.org/article/vitamin-k-shot-texas-lonestar-emergency-room-nicole-malouf
- Topics: Politics

## Key points

- An 11-day-old baby kept bleeding from her umbilical cord stump.
- Emergency room treatments did not address the suspected underlying risk.
- The case underscores the protection vitamin K shots provide newborns.

## Summary

An 11-day-old baby, Gwen Biesenbach, was taken to a Texas emergency room after her umbilical cord stump began bleeding. The bleeding continued despite repeated treatments, and the case highlights the danger of vitamin K deficiency bleeding in newborns whose parents decline the standard injection.

Gwen’s parents had declined the shot at birth and were giving her oral vitamin K drops. Over nearly three hours, Dr Nicole Malouf tried seven methods to stop the bleeding, including gauze and silver nitrate, before arranging a transfer to a hospital with paediatric specialists. The article says recent studies found higher bleeding risks among babies who did not receive the shot; one reported a 347% rise in vitamin K deficiency bleeding between 2017 and 2025.

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Summarised by TalkFuse (https://talkfuse.com/). Quote the original publisher for the reporting and link this page for the summary and discussion.