Ventilation failure caused death of four month old
Greg was four months old when he was admitted to hospital for surgery to repair a heart defect. After the surgery, Greg was placed on a ventilator but it malfunctioned and Greg stopped breathing.
Resuscitation was carried out for more than two hours, following which a decision was made to put Greg onto a bypass machine.
The next day, the by pass equipment was cleaned but the machine was inadvertently switched off. When attempts were made to restart the machine, it was accidentally put into reverse. This pushed oxygenated blood back into Greg’s body.
Greg failed to respond to further treatment, and his condition continued to deteriorate. Sadly, he died two days later. His family successfully pursued a claim for clinical negligence on the basis that the ventilation failure caused Greg to suffer a pulmonary hypertensive crisis resulting in a cardiac arrest and his subsequent death.
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