Gas fitter learns fate over horror hospital bungle which killed one newborn and left another with lifelong injuries
A former gasfitter who admitted killing a newborn baby and leaving another with lifelong brain damage for his role in a botched gas installation at a Sydney hospital has been jailed but will be released by Christmas.
Christopher Laurie Turner, 64, was led away by Correctional Service officers in Sydney’s Downing Center District Court on Thursday as he was sentenced to prison for the death of baby John Ghanem and the life-long injuries sustained by Amelia Khan in 2016.
Turner had previously pleaded not guilty and indicated he would fight the charges at trial, but in an October decision he pleaded guilty to one count each of involuntary manslaughter and causing grievous bodily harm by negligence.
He admitted his part in the fatal mix-up at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in July 2015, which led to nitrous oxide being administered to both newborns during the installation of oxygen connections.
In June 2016, newborn Amelia Khan suffered severe brain damage after she was administered nitrous oxide during emergency resuscitation; this left him legally blind, wheelchair-bound, and unable to speak.
Baby John Ghanem died in July 2016 after being ventilated with nitrous oxide from a neonatal gas system labeled “oxygen” in operating room eight.
He survived for less than an hour.
Turner pleaded guilty in 2020 to failing to comply with his duty under the Occupational Health and Safety Act and was fined $100,000.
Following the criminal investigation in 2021, he was referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions and was arrested and charged with criminal offenses in August 2022.
The confusion was a result of rooftop nitrous oxide gas pipelines being mistakenly labeled as oxygen in the mid-90s.
Nearly two decades later, Turner was subcontracted to do overnight work to connect neonatal oxygen lines to delivery rooms.
During the studies, the nitrous oxide tube was connected to the oxygen outlet in the operating room.
The court was told that under the Australian Standard Turner was required to carry out tests for cross-linking and gas concentration in the eighth operating room.
But the court was told Turner did not carry out any checks, which would only take a few minutes.
This happened despite him filling out forms certifying that he had done so.
The Crown Prosecution Service argued Turner was “grossly negligent” and the consequences of his actions were “foreseeable”
Judge Nicole Noman sentenced Turner to two years and 10 months in prison on Thursday.
He will be released on parole on December 24 this year after serving 10 months in prison.
More to come.
