The confinement lady fed the baby sleeping pills and sued the employer afterwards

Since Sister Shi, the confinement sister-in-law, began to take care of the child, the baby, who originally had to wake up several times every night, has never woken up at night. Bao's mother Ke Yuan (pseudonym) inadvertently discovered that Sister Shi's secret to sleep was actually related to the drinking water she fed to her sleeping child.

After discovering that Sister Shi, the confinement sister-in-law, was feeding the sleeping Xiaobao at 2 o'clock in the morning, Ke Yuan proposed on the spot to check Sister Shi's small bag. In Sister Shi's small bag, Ke Yuan found a whole bottle of gamma oryzanol tablets. This drug ingredient was finally detected in Xiaobao's drinking water that night.

Faced with Bao's mother's questioning, Sister Shi insisted that Gu Weisu bought it for herself because she was not in good spirits to take care of Xiaobao. Sister Shi not only did not admit that she had put the drugs, but also sued Ke Yuan's family to the court, demanding that they pay 4,620 yuan in unpaid labor fees.

Babies who wake up three or four times a night no longer cry at night

Ke Yuan is a "post-80s" mother. In order to take care of her son Xiaobao, who was just a few months old, Ke Yuan hired Sister Shi, a confinement sister-in-law, through a company, and paid her a daily salary of 308 yuan per day.

As a live-in confinement lady, Sister Shi's work includes sleeping with her children and taking care of her children's daily life. In the "Intermediary Agreement of XX Company" signed by the two parties, it was agreed that Sister Shi should pay special attention to safety in the process of taking care of children. If there is an intention to cause unnecessary harm to the child, Sister Shi is responsible. If Sister Shi causes injury or damage to property that exceeds her salary, Sister Shi must bear unlimited liability.

In July 2022, Sister Shi began to take care of Xiaobao. Under the care of Sister Shi, Ke Yuan was surprised to find that Xiaobao, who had a very light sleep and had to wake up three or four times every night when she was taking care of her, suddenly improved her sleep quality. He can sleep all night and hardly wake up during the night.

The baby, which suddenly became quiet, triggered Ke Yuan's instinctive uneasiness as a mother. After many observations, she found that Sister Shi has a habit of feeding the sleeping Xiaobao on time at 2 o'clock in the morning every day. Obviously, the child is asleep, why does Sister Shi have to feed water for no reason at this time? On August 17, 2022, after seeing Sister Shi feeding Xiaobao water at 2 o'clock in the morning again, Ke Yuan asked directly.

That night, Sister Shi's answer deepened Ke Yuan's concerns even more. Obviously, Xiaobao has been sleeping soundly, but Sister Shi explained to Ke Yuan that she was feeding water because Xiaobao was crying. That night, Ke Yuan, who had a tough attitude, checked Sister Shi's small bag. In Sister Shi's small bag, Ke Yuan found a bottle of gamma oryzanol tablets.

According to public information, gamma oryzanol tablets are mainly used for sedation and sleep aid for neurosis, premenstrual tension syndrome, and menopausal syndrome. It is emphasized in the precautions for the use of the drug that pregnant and lactating women should use it under the guidance of a physician. Children must use under physician guidance and adult supervision.

Gamma oryzanol was detected in infant drinking water

After discovering this bottle of medicine, Ke Yuan immediately chose to call the police. After the police arrived at the scene, they brought the thermos cup, milk bottle and gamma oryzanol tablets used by Xiaobao to the police station. Since gamma oryzanol tablets are not drugs, they are not within the scope of testing by the judicial testing center of the public security organs. So, under the advice and witness of the police, on August 25, 2022, Ke Yuan, Sister Shi and a third-party testing center signed a "Power of Attorney" to test the composition of the baby's drinking water that night.

On September 13, a company issued a "test report", which showed that the test sample contained 0.35mg/kg of gamma oryzanol.

Regarding this result, Sister Shi said that she could not accept it. In her opinion, this conclusion is closely related to the irregular operation in the detection process. She pointed out that the company's process for extracting liquids was not standardized. The inspectors used a mineral water bottle containing a small amount of liquid of unknown origin as a container for extracting the sample. She believes that such an irregular extraction method will lead to contamination of the samples sent for testing. This "test report" could not prove that the drinking water that Xiaobao drank that night contained gamma oryzanol.

The confinement lady sued the employer for labor fees

In Sister Shi's mouth, another version of the incident was presented. Sister Shi said that the gamma oryzanol in her personal belongings was originally bought for herself in order to ensure her working status after she suffered from insomnia due to the pressure of taking care of Xiaobao. Xiaobao no longer cries at night because she has received effective advice after consulting with a home economics instructor. The instructor told her that giving her child water would help relieve her child's crying at night.

On August 17, 2022, Sister Shi fed the child water after being woken up by the child's crying. Who knows, but he was accused by his employer Ke Yuan of feeding the child medicine. Ke Yuan's unprovoked call to the police directly led to Sister Shi being detained by the police station for 12 hours for no reason. On August 18, because of Ke Yuan's dissatisfaction, Sister Shi had to move out of her employer's house.

Sister Shi believes that according to the daily salary of 308 yuan, the employer's family is still in arrears for 15 days, totaling 4,620 yuan. Therefore, Sister Shi filed a lawsuit with the court, requesting that Ke Yuan be ordered to pay her 4,620 yuan in labor fees.

In the course of the lawsuit, Bao Ma Ke Yuan filed a counterclaim. Bao's mother and family believe that Sister Shi, as a confinement sister-in-law, violated professional ethics in order to be able to work easily, broke the bottom line and put gamma oryzanol tablets in the baby's drinking water, and her behavior had a significant impact on the child's neurodevelopment. Therefore, Sister Shi should not only not receive remuneration for labor services, but should also compensate Ke Yuan's family for more than 16,000 yuan in medical expenses, nutrition fees, and lawyer fees for the major damage caused.

Court: Feeding tranquilizers to babies without authorization

Serious violation of personal safety obligations

After trial, the Shanghai court held that the focus of the dispute in this case was whether Sister Shi added gamma oryzanol to Xiaobao's drinking water in the process of providing childcare services. According to the evidence in the case, Ke Yuan's family immediately called the police after suspecting that Sister Shi had put drugs. After the police were dispatched, the water cups involved in the case were temporarily stored. Therefore, the relevant physical evidence involved in the case is true and credible. However, in the process of extracting samples for testing, there were improper procedures in a testing company, which affected the proof effect of the "Test Report".

It is worth pointing out that the test involved in this case is not a forensic examination, so the exclusionary rule in cases of procedural irregularity should not be strictly applied. The test results showed that the extracted samples did contain gamma oryzanol. In this case, there is no evidence to show that the employer, Ke Yuan, or the testing agency had the need to falsely accuse Sister Shi. Therefore, contamination of the test sample is not very likely. The court held that the Test Report still had some probative force.

According to the principle of determining the probative force of civil evidence, the court held that it could be determined that Sister Shi added gamma oryzanol to the water when she fed Xiaobao water. In the absence of necessity and reasonableness, the confinement lady fed the baby tranquilizer drugs without the consent of the mother, which seriously violated the obligation of personal safety protection in the performance of the contract. Therefore, Ke Yuan's family had reason to refuse to fulfill their contractual obligation to pay the service fee. In the end, after comprehensive consideration, the court ordered that Sister Shi, the confinement sister-in-law, should compensate Bao Ma's family for medical expenses, nursing fees, intermediary fees, and mental loss solace totaling about 10,000 yuan within 10 days from the date of the judgment taking effect.