I would suggest that if you are at all concerned about what actually happened, that I'd contact the hospital about it.....absolutely.

It was my understanding that the cord stump is left to fall off of it's own accord - it is not pulled off or removed at all. The only thing you need to do is to ensure that it is kept clean and dry.

Since Reuben was born prematurely, I'm not sure if there are any 'special' rules that apply WRT removing the cord stump, but I wouldn't have thought so. Did you tell the pedeatrician about this? If not, is it possible that you can ask his opinion as to whether this may have caused the problem?

I hope you get some answers Pukeko. I can understand why you are upset about this, and I'd be trying to find out from the hospital what happened and why.