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Parents Of Baby Hurt In Hospital Nitrous Gas Mix-up Speak Out

Baby Amelia was left with brain damage.
Baby Amelia was left with brain damage after she was given laughing gas instead of oxygen shortly after she was born.
Fairfax
Baby Amelia was left with brain damage after she was given laughing gas instead of oxygen shortly after she was born.

The parents of a baby who survived a nitrous-oxide gassing at a Sydney hospital shortly after birth have spoken for the first time of their love and concern for their daughter.

Baby Amelia was delivered at Lidcombe-Bankstown Hospital on June 20 to excited parents Benish and Danial Khan. But shortly after her birth, Amelia was given nitrous oxide instead of oxygen, which resulted in permanent brain damage.

The irreversible brain injury causes constant seizures, and she is fed through a tube and requires a high level of constant care, law firm Maurice Blackburn said.

Law firm Maurice Blackburn is investigating a claim for compensation on behalf of Amelia and her parents, Benish and Danial.
Fairfax
Law firm Maurice Blackburn is investigating a claim for compensation on behalf of Amelia and her parents, Benish and Danial.

"It's devastating as a parent to be told your precious daughter has suffered permanent brain damage," Mr and Mrs Khan said in a statement.

"We remain full of hope for Amelia's future but we worry for her and want to do everything we can to make sure she has the best life she possibly can."

"We just want everyone to know what happened to Amelia won't ever go away. 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."

Maurice Blackburn is investigating a claim for compensation on behalf of Amelia and her parents.

The Khans also expressed their deepest sympathy to the Ghanem family, whose newborn son John was also administered nitrous oxide and died at the Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in June.

"We can only imagine the intense pain this family is going through and our hearts go out to them," the Khans said.

NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner has said a neo-natal resuscitation machine was incorrectly installed.

"I held my baby. They [brought] him to me at the hospital," baby John's mother, Sonya Ghanem told Channel Nine in July.

"I said I want to see him. [I was] just looking at him, shaking. 'My son, wake up,' I would tell him. 'Wake up, wake up. What did they do to you?'

"I came [home] empty-handed. Thinking I'd hold my newborn, but no."

A total of 36 babies were born in the operating theatre with affected gas outlets but only two were treated in the resuscitation unit where the gas was delivered, a report by the Chief Health Officer found.

Skinner has said both the hospital and gas company BOC were responsible for checking a gas line, which administered the wrong gas.

Health Minister Jillian Skinner addressing the media on the interim report into the Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital medical gas error and the final report into the underdosing of chemotherapy patients at St Vincent's Hospital
Fairfax
Health Minister Jillian Skinner addressing the media on the interim report into the Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital medical gas error and the final report into the underdosing of chemotherapy patients at St Vincent's Hospital

Skinner has said she was profoundly sorry and the operating theatre in question had been corrected but remained closed.

"I deeply regret these families have suffered through such a devastating error," she said at the time.

"NSW Health will do all it can to support them."

The health minister has been under increasing fire in recent weeks after it was revealed two stillborn babies were cremated by mistake at Sydney's Royal North Shore Hospital.

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