CHAMBLEE, Ga. — Doctors say a newborn left outside a clinic in a gym bag is a “miracle child.”
Chamblee police said a cleaning crew found the infant in a blue canvas gym bag outside the Family Medical Clinic on Buford Highway shortly after midnight.
The boy still had the umbilical cord attached and was placed on top of a lab collection box in the entryway of the location.
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Through surveillance video and witness interviews, police determined the infant was left outside in front of the business in the early morning hours Wednesday. At some point during the day the bag was brought inside by staff members who thought the bag belonged to a patient but the staff member did not open the bag.
The infant remained in the gym bag all day without any nourishment or attention.
The infant was taken to Scottish Rite Hospital and is expected to be OK.
Channel 2's Liz Artz spoke with the man who found the baby and he said he was shocked. Horace Thomas immediately called 911 and anxiously awaited for police to arrive. He told Artz in his 60+ years of life, he's never experienced anything like this before.
“I stood and listened for a while kept going kept going, ‘That’s a baby in there!’ I was so shocked didn't touch anything,” Thomas said.
The boy weighed just under 5 pounds and appeared not to be full term. Based on the initial timeline of the incident, the medical staff considers the infant boy a miracle child.
"It's amazing that the baby was there for 18 hours and medical personnel say he's going to be okay. He's going to make it," said Lt. Jason Waasdorp with the Chamblee Police Department.
The Department of Family and Children Services was contacted and responded to the hospital where they took custody of the infant.
Police say Thomas' concern and attention to the sound coming from the bag probably saved the baby's life.
"Feel like I did a good thing. A good thing," Thomas said.
Georgia has a law that allows a newborn to be dropped off at what are called "safe havens" such as hospitals but not physicians or dentist's offices.
Police tell us the mother has to show proof of her identity. Authorities want to find the mother who could end up being charged with child endangerment, child abandonment or child neglect for not following procedures.