Baby born prematurely while mother was on business trip returns home
PHILADELPHIA (WTXF) - A baby born prematurely while his mother was on a business trip in Texas has returned home.
Austin Pratta was born two months premature while his mother was on what was supposed to be a two-day business trip in Austin, Texas. Sarah Pratta had been cleared by her doctors to travel from the family's home in Willow Grove.
Sarah's husband Steve says her water broke in a downtown hotel room, just a few hours into her trip and Austin was born weighing just 4.5 lbs. He now weighs nearly 7 lbs.
MORE: Aetna agrees to fly Willow Grove baby home, family says
Austin was cleared to be transferred back to the Philadelphia area a few weeks back, but the trip would require an air ambulance. The family says their healthcare provider, Aetna, twice denied covering the 1,500-mile trip home.
One of the letters addressed to the five-week-old read, "There is no evidence that your condition is unstable, and requires medical supervision and rapid transport."
The Pratta family says Aetna agreed to fly the baby closer to home, so he can be cared for at a hospital in Abington. Sarah's employer, Excelsior Publishing, had also offered to pay for Austin's flight home.