On the afternoon of March 6th, 1962 a practical nurse working in the formula room at Binghamton General Hospital’s maternity ward noticed the sugar container used for mixing infant formula was only half full. She took the can to the hospital's main kitchen to refill it. In the kitchen sitting side by side were two identical 20-gallon drums, one filled with salt and the other with sugar. The nurse would later clearly remember reaching into the drum on the left and filling the formula room’s container with two scoops from the can’s contents that she assumed was sugar.
It wasn’t. The container the nurse would return to the formula room that afternoon was now partially filled with salt. Over the next 5 days, the nurses working the ward would unknowingly feed the infants in the ward bottles of formula mixed with salt.
The Salt Babies, a documentary from WSKG and filmmaker Brian Frey tells the tragic story that would unfold in General Hospitals Maternity Ward over the next week. Babies would die, lives would be shattered and when the tragedy was revealed to the public it would send shockwaves across the country and the world.
The Salt Babies will premiere on Monday, December 5, 2022 at 9:00 pm on WSKG-TV.
The Salt Babies will also air on Saturday, December 17, 2022 at 5:30 pm on WSKG-TV. The program will also be Free and On Demand until Thursday, January 5, 2023, after that, it will be available to watch with WSKG Passport.
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