When Sonya and her husband Yusuf went to the hospital, they were excited to welcome their 4th child. But, unfortunately, when they were finally able to properly hold their baby, he had already passed away. Baby John was born after an emergency cesarean section was performed.
At the time of his birth, he only let out a weak cry, and problems began right from the start. The hospital staff saw that he wasn’t breathing properly and began ventilating him.
They hooked up baby to what they thought was a steady supply of oxygen.However, it was only much later when they realized it was something else – it was nitrous oxide, also known as laughing gas, that was pumped into the newborn’s tiny body.
The medics put in all the effort they could to revive the baby, but were left with no answers when the baby died 57 minutes after his birth. The investigation found that two gas pipes were incorrectly placed at the time of their installation at the hospital. What is even more shocking is that the installation took place a year before John’s mother was taken into that very operating theatre for her baby’s birth.
Both parents still mourn their child’s loss. Their three other children were also robbed of their chance to grow up alongside their baby brother. Even now, they sometimes walk into his bedroom with the hope of seeing John lying in his cot. “I come home and look at his room and no baby. I went in [to the hospital] empty-handed thinking I’ll hold my newborn but no,” the mother-of-three said, according to Mirror. Currently, an inquest is going on in connection with the gas line mix-up at the hospital that went undetected for about a year.
“John had lived for just under one hour,” said Donna, the counsel assisting the inquest. “Ultimately Sonya and Yusuf got to spend time with their baby boy. But this was after John had died.” Those who treated him on the day of his birth and tried to revive him also felt like John’s death “made no sense,” Ward added in court. The unfortunate family might have celebrated John’s fifth birthday if the piping bungle had not taken away his life. But now, the parents are watching the ongoing inquest into their son’s death unfold.
