The mistaken termination of a healthy unborn boy at Melbourne's Royal Women's Hospital is unlikely to be referred to the coroner because the baby never took a breath.
The 32-week foetus was this week terminated instead of his seriously ill twin brother in a procedure his mother agreed to on medical advice.
Doctors reportedly advised the woman that one of boys, whom she had already named, had a congenital heart defect that would require years of operations, if he survived at all, the Herald Sun reported.
'Traumatised' ... The hospital aborted the wrong baby. Photo: Craig Abraham
The mother made the heartbreaking decision to abort, but at 2.30pm on Tuesday the wrong baby was injected, terminating the healthy foetus.
The mother then underwent an emergency caesarian section to end the life of the sick child.
The hospital today confirmed "a distressing clinical accident occurred on Tuesday" and is investigating.
"This is a terrible tragedy and the hospital is deeply sorry for the loss suffered by the patient and her family," the hospital said in a statement.
"We are conducting a full investigation and continue to offer the family and affected staff every support."
But Victoria's Health Services Commissioner, Beth Wilson, said the tragic mix-up was unlikely to be referred to the coroner.
"I don't think so, the coroner only has jurisdiction where the foetus has actually been born and has taken a breath. My understanding is that didn't happen in this case," she told radio 3AW.
Ms Wilson said the hospital would conduct its own probe, but that Heath Minister David Davis could also intervene and request an investigation.
"Initially the hospital will do its own investigations," she said.
"They will keep me informed of what's happening. The minister may have his own ideas about this and he can ask for any number of invesatigations. He could ask me to do a formal inquiry or he could get somebody else to do it. That's in the hands of the minister.
"I would be waiting until I was contacted by the family before I had any involvement with them."
The family involved issued a statement through the hospital calling for the media to respect its request for privacy.
A friend of the woman said the family was struggling with the tragic circumstances.
"She went to the hospital with two babies and now she has none," the friend told the Herald Sun.
"And she had the heartache of giving birth to her sick baby. She's traumatised."
An ultrasound clinician checked three times before the termination because she did not want to make a mistake, the newspaper reported.
The woman's husband, a nurse, a doctor and the ultrasound clinician, who was inconsolable because of the mistake, were in the room at the time of the procedure.
A hospital spokeswoman was unsure if the woman was still in hospital. She said the hospital would not discuss the case further.
Ms Wilson said she had not been given details of the case and could not "make a judgment about what actually happened or who did what".
"It's an extremely distressing case for everybody involved, in particular the family, but in my experience when something goes wrong in health usually the health service providers are also very distressed," she said.
Comment has been sought from Mr Davis' office.