Another family affected by the botched gas mix-up have revealed their baby girl has been left with brain damage. Baby Amelia has to be fed through a tube and suffers from constant seizures.
Parents, Danial and Benish Khan welcomed their baby girl Amelia on June 20 via c-section delivery at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital, but Amelia was given laughing gas (nitrous oxide) instead of oxygen.
The parents realized their baby girl was gravely unwell after she was born.
When they were told the devastating mistake, they were shocked, but it made sense why Amelia was so unwell.
The parents of a baby left with brain damage after she was accidentally administered laughing gas have revealed the little girl must be fed through a tube and suffers constant seizures.
‘It’s devastating as a parent to be told that your precious daughter has suffered permanent brain damage,’ the Khan’s said in a statement.
‘She will always have to live with the consequences of what was done to her at the hospital. But we will always be by her side and we’ll do everything we can to give her the best possible future,’ they said.
A number of ‘tragic errors’ have been blamed for the mix-up of gases at the hospital which have caused the death of one baby boy and affected Amelia.
Mr and Mrs Khan have sympathized with the other family caught up in the botch up. ‘We can only imagine the intense pain this family is going through and our hearts go out to them,’ the couple said.
The NSW Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant has admitted in her report that the families require answers and the health system have let down these families.
‘I can imagine that whilst giving some of the answers the families must require, it still doesn’t undo what’s been done, the catastrophic impact this error has had’.
‘We’ve certainly let them down and we should have done better.’
The Kham family have engaged with Maurice Blackburn medical negligence lawyer, Libby Brookes, to look into compensation for the devastating mix up. It’s had a shattering impact on Amelia, her parents and extended family.
‘Like all parents, they were simply looking forward to welcoming their child safely into the world. Now their lives have been turned completely upside down,’ Ms Brookes said.
‘Amelia’s parents and her family have suffered a terrible shock learning that she was given nitrous oxide instead of oxygen at the hospital.’
So far since the investigation started over the mix up, the general manager of the hospital and an engineer has been suspended and a disciplinary investigation will be underway.
All medical gas outlets in other NSW health facilities have been tested and no failures have been found. NSW Health have also engaged with different contractors to install, maintain and test the gas pipelines.
