Tabark Abdul Rahman recovers at the Abu Ghraib medical facility, after being treated for pneumonia. U.S. Army photo by Sgt. 1st Class Carolanne Diggs
Doctors Give Iraqi Baby New Lease on Life
Doctors at the Abu Ghraib hospital, and a very long-distance phone call, helped diagnose and treat a very sick four-month-old baby.
By U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Carolanne Diggs Multinational Force-Iraq
ABU GHRAIB, Iraq, Dec. 7, 2005 — Four-month-old Tabark Abdul Rahman, known as Tabitha to the Abu Ghraib medical staff, was given a grim prognosis on life.
When she arrived at the Abu Ghraib hospital she was malnourished, dehydrated, in renal (kidney) distress, was suffering from diarrhea and had a bad cough. X-rays showed she had pneumonia. After two months in and out of Baghdad Children's Hospital, Iraqi doctors sent her home to die.
Tabitha's father, Abdul Rahman, couldn't accept that his 4-month-old daughter was going to die, so he approached coalition forces for help.
Rahman, a translator with the 306th Military Police Battalion, and a soldier approached Maj. (Dr.) Brad Wenstrup, chief of surgery, asked if he could look at his ill daughter. He presented lab work and a hand-written summary of the child's condition from a doctor at Baghdad Children's Hospital.