Not giving your baby a name right away could increase the risk for medical mistakes


When babies are born in hospitals, ID bracelets are quickly slapped on their tiny wrists and feet, whether their parents have decided on a name or not — and that could lead to terrible mistakes being made to newborns stuck with generic monikers like Babygirl Smith and Babyboy Jones.
In a paper published Monday in the journal Pediatrics, the authors say that entering multiple babies into the computer system with these nondescript names could lead to a greater likelihood of mix-ups when it comes to medical care, especially in the neonatal intensive care unit. "All neonatologists know this is a problem, but weren't able to quantify it," study author Jason Adelman, an internist and public safety officer at New York's Montefiore Health System, told NPR.
Adelman and his colleagues decided to come up with a new naming convention, and instead of calling a baby born to Jane Smith Babygirl Smith, she became Janesgirl Smith. Then, researchers looked at retract-and-reorder events, a tool used in hospital computer systems to mark medical orders retracted by a health care worker and then placed on a different patient shortly thereafter. They found a 36 percent decline in retract-and-reorder events in the year after they tried the new naming convention compared to an earlier time period. Although the tool only measures close calls and not actual errors, doctors say the research is shedding light on an important issue. "The way we name babies in the hospital has to really be thought of very carefully," Dr. Gautham Suresh said.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
-
Gandhi arrests: Narendra Modi's 'vendetta' against India's opposition
The Explainer Another episode threatens to spark uproar in the Indian PM's long-running battle against the country's first family
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
-
How the woke right gained power in the US
Under the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025
The Week's daily codeword puzzle
By The Week Staff
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber, The Week US
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditions
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billion
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on record
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homes
Speed Read
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creature
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans