Hearts were broken last week when it emerged that a baby in Australia had died after being mistakenly given nitrous oxide (also known as laughing gas) instead of oxygen, and now decisive action has been taken.
New South Wales' Health Minister, Jillian Skinner, this week revealed that the hospital engineer responsible for installing the gas outlets at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital has been ‘stood down’.
The company responsible for supplying the system has also had its contracts with the hospital suspended.
“It is my belief that BOC Limited, which installed and certified the medical gas outlet, and Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital operating theatres, which was required under Australian standards to check it, will share responsibility for this tragedy,” she said.
The announcement was made via an interim report into the incident. Minister Skinner added that investigators will also be holding other members of hospital staff and management to account, if they are found to have played any part in the tragedy.
The incident, which occurred last week, follows an identical gaffe which has left another newborn with suspected brain damage.
Minister Skinner has faced calls to resign following the spate of shocking incidents, but she has so far rejected them.
