Amelia Khan suffered brain damage because she was mistakenly administered nitrous oxide
The parents of a little girl who was given nitrous oxide instead of oxygen moments after she was born – causing permanent brain damage – have broken their silence on the horrific bungle that ‘ruined their lives’.
Amelia Khan was inadvertently poisoned at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in June 2016 after a subcontractor mixed up two gas pipelines in the delivery ward.
When hospital staff thought they were providing Amelia oxygen, she was actually being pumped full of laughing gas from a port which had been incorrectly labelled.
A month later, another newborn, John Ghanem died at the same hospital after being given the deadly gas instead of oxygen.
For the first time, Amelia’s parents Benish and Danial Khan have opened up on the mix-up that changed the course of their lives.
‘You would never for a second think that in a country like Australia, something like this can happen,’ Amelia’s mother Benish Khan told 60 Minutes on Sunday night.
‘I am angry about this. And you know what? You really have ruined our lives.’
Amelia suffered critical and irreparable brain damage following the incident.
Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court last month heard she would likely develop life-long quadriplegic cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities, was unlikely to develop speech and would be reliant on others for all aspects of her care.
The couple shared haunting video of the moments immediately after Amelia’s birth, which should have documented the happiest time of their lives.
Amelia Khanare is pictured with her parents. She suffered brain damage after she was fed nitrous oxide instead of oxygen soon after her birth in Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital
Instead, it now serves as a painful reminder of what happened to their little girl.
The footage, which was shared with 60 Minutes, shows the moment doctors placed the mask over a healthy Amelia’s tiny little mouth to assist her breathing.
‘To this day, I remember in that theatre listening to her cries in between,’ Ms Kahn said. ‘Listening to them take that mask off for that couple of seconds, hearing her squealing, just not the sound that a baby makes… it was the sound that a baby makes in pain.
‘It is just something that haunts you forever.’
The Caesarean birth went well, but the medical team decided to give Amelia a small amount of oxygen to assist her breathing, not yet realising a subcontractor had actually mislabelled the gas line.
Amelia immediately began suffocating, and the footage shows the moment doctors realised her condition was deteriorating, while Mr Khan tried to comfort his wife.
Her parents made the excruciating decision to turn off her life support but she survived. Doctors say she will likely develop life-long quadriplegic cerebral palsy and intellectual disabilities
The subcontractor who made the error appeared in court charged with serious workplace health and safety breaches. He pleaded guilty and was handed a $100,000 fine.
‘The extent of the harm caused is almost too awful to contemplate,’ Judge David Russell said when determining the ruling.
In addition to little Amelia’s lifelong sentence, newborn John Ghanem died in the same birthing theatre under similar circumstances just one month later.
‘I cannot think of a more tragic case. John Ghanem lost his life and his parents will live with their grief forever,’ Judge Russell said.
‘Amelia Khan has been condemned to a terrible existence. Her parents will have to provide care and assistance to Amelia and deal with their own grief.’
Amelia’s parents, Benish and Danial Khan (pictured), told 60 Minutes on Sunday night the mix up ruined their lives
Despite the tragic circumstances, the young first-time parents said they have ‘accepted’ what happened to Amelia.
‘I can’t imagine Amelia in any other way, she’s funny, she’s strong, she’s resilient,’ Mr Khan said. ‘We’ve accepted what happened.’
‘We like to teach Amelia that although these things happen, we forgive and we don’t hold grudges with anybody. We never have,’ Ms Khan added.
The family were told Amelia would not survive without her life support.
But four years after they made the devastating decision to turn it off, the little girl is still making progress.
‘It’s just a reminder for us to make sure, to fight for Amelia and to make sure to get the outcome that she deserves… we feel even more strongly about making sure that the right people are held accountable for her,’ Ms Khan said.
At last month’s court appearance, Turner pleaded guilty to failing in his duty under the Work Health and Safety Act and was facing a maximum fine of $150,000.
Judge Russell said both families had cause to consider the $100,000 punishment lenient, but noted there was no scope under the Act to impose a prison sentence.
Turner’s penalty was discounted for his cooperation with authorities and expressing remorse in a written statement.
The court found Turner failed in several of his duties when he failed to carry out cross connection and oxygen concentration tests.
The bungle arose when he was subcontracted to carry out work to install piped medical oxygen at the hospital in July 2015.
Turner signed several certificates which indicated he carried out safety checks, even though he had not.
He also failed his requirement to perform the tests in the presence of a hospital staff member.
Judge Russell found Turner told the hospital’s assistant engineer Paul Brightwell that he didn’t have to be present for the testing, and convinced him to sign the testing certification.
SafeWork NSW in 2018 launched cases against Mr Brightwell, but dropped the charges for legal reasons.
Amelia’s family wants the regulator to re-open its investigation into Mr Brightwell and others.
John Ghanem’s family (pictured) were left devastated over the tragic death of their newborn baby in 2016
‘We strongly believe that everyone responsible needs to be held to account for their involvement and we are determined to make sure that justice is done,’ they said in a statement.
Meanwhile Sonya and Youssef Ghanem released a statement through their family lawyer Stephen Mainstone.
‘No penalty handed down by a court will ever bring back their son who they lost in not only tragic but completely avoidable circumstances,’ the statement said.
In 2016, Ms Ghanem spoke through tears about the moment she learnt her newborn baby was dead.
‘Just looking at him, shaking, ”my son, wake up”, I would tell him ”wake up, what did they do to you?” she told Nine News at the time.
BOC Limited, the company contracted to complete the work, was found not guilty of breaching its health and safety duty because Turner had lied to them.
SafeWork NSW last year dropped charges against the hospital because of its good health and safety record.
Bankstown Lidcombe Hospital (pictured) in Sydney’s south-west, where two newborns were fed nitrous oxide instead of oxygen in the birthing suite