‘We refuse to go’: Parents of eight-month-old Indigo Murray slam ‘appalling’ hospital care

The parents of premature baby Indigo Murray say the care she received at a major suburban hospital was “absolutely appalling”.

Parents of an eight-month-old girl have been left traumatised after they claim a northern suburbs hospital performed “absolutely appalling” care which could’ve resulted in their daughter’s lungs filling up with milk.

Born 10 weeks premature, Indigo Daisy Murray had been fitted with a gastric nasal feeding tube in early March at Flinders Medical Centre after she had been regurgitating her milk regularly, often vomiting and choking.

On March 10, the day she was discharged, she was home playing when she accidentally pulled her feeding tube out.

Her dad Joshua Murray rushed his eight-month-old daughter to their closest hospital, Lyell McEwin, for help – a decision he wished he never made.

“We now refuse to go to Lyell Mac, we won’t go to Lyell Mac unless she’s physically dying,” the 37-year-old told The Advertiser.

Parents, Alysha Curnow and Joshua Murray with Indigo Daisy Murray, 9 months old, at home in Kudla, Sunday, March 24, 2024. Picture: Matt Loxton

When Mr Murray presented his daughter at the pediatric emergency department, after she pulled out her feeding tube, he told staff his daughter suffered with chronic lung disease and required isolation from other waiting patients who could carry infectious diseases – a request never accommodated.

“I just had to keep her in a pram away from everyone,” he said.

When Indigo was finally seen by two nurses, 45 minutes later, they attempted to insert a new nasal gastric tube.

“The whole time Indigo was screaming, they asked me to pin her down,” he said.

Parents of Indigo Daisy Murray have called out the Lyell McEwin Hospital after they received "absolutely appalling" care. Picture: Supplied by family

When the tube was apparently fitted, nurses aspirated liquid from the tube to test its pH level to confirm whether the tube had reached Indigo’s stomach.

Mr Murray said if the testing strip turned blue that meant the tube had not reached the stomach, whereas results showing orange meant the tube was in the correct position.

The Kudla dad said Indigo’s results came back with a mixed reading with both orange and dark blue visible on the pH testing strip.

“They eventually googled how to read the results,” he said.

“Before our discharge from Flinders hospital we received training in performing these pH checks and what results to look for and what results to worry about.

“Blue is one that we were told to present to a hospital immediately for.”

Mr Murray queried this with the nurses and a third nurse came to reperform the fitting and test which produced a blue result.

She attempted to reperform the procedure asking Mr Murray to help.

Indigo Daisy Murray was born 10 weeks premature on June 15 2023 and has experienced health complications since birth. Picture: Supplied by family

When the nurse reattempted the test she couldn’t extract the fluid required.

“They asked me to put milk down (the tube) which if it’s in her lungs basically it could kill her,” he said.

“I said I didn’t want to do that. A doctor came in and told me to just do it and eventually we did that.”

Dad Joshua Murray said he’d never return to Lyell McEwin Hospital after the treatment of her now nine-month-old daughter. Picture: Matt Loxton

Mr Murray reluctantly fed his daughter 10ml of formula through the tube while he kept a close eye on her with any signs she was drowning.

He said during this process there was no medical staff present in the room and no one checking on her vitals.

He waited half an hour for a nurse to finally return, this time a male nurse he hadn’t seen before arrived.

“He had no idea what was going on, I explained it all to him, he did a test and it came back very blue and he didn’t know what those results were, I explained to him that it wasn’t a good result,” Mr Murray said.

When the male nurse went to speak to another nurse, he told the nurse Indigo was only a few weeks old which Mr Murray corrected.

“I knew the result was not okay and I wanted to talk to a doctor,” he said.

Mr Murray called his partner, Indigo’s mum Alysha Curnow, who called the Flinders Medical Centre for advice.

“They basically advised her to have the tube removed and get out of there and take her to Flinders,” he said.

When the emergency department doctor saw Mr Murray they said Indigo’s results were okay.

“I put Alysha on speaker so that she could hear this exchange and we then told them what we had been advised and requested the tube be removed,” Mr Murray said.

“The doctor said they would remove the tube, hung up on my partner and left the room.”

Mr Murray said he was told nurses at Lyell McEwin were going to find a pediatric doctor to take a look at Indigo.

“I said absolutely not, just take the tube out and let me take my daughter somewhere she will get the appropriate care.”

Mr Murray said the care at Flinders Medical Centre has been nothing short of incredible. Picture: Matt Loxton

By the time Indigo made it to Flinders Medical Centre she was three hours overdue for her four hourly feed.

“I was in-between very angry and just distraught because she was just so upset,” he said.

“They weren’t adequately doing their job which made me angry.”

Mr Murray said the nurses should be adequately trained to perform these procedures.

While at Flinders Indigo was seen straight away, the tube was inserted with five minutes and returned a positive result.

Mr Murray was provided a room to feed his daughter safely and they returned home.

The Northern Adelaide Local Health Network acting chief executive Karen Puvogel said “fitting nasal gastric tubes to infants can be a complex procedure that takes testing to ensure it is working correctly”.

“I apologise to the family for the distress this procedure may have caused,” she said.

“This matter has been raised directly with our consumer engagement team and today I have requested a review of this case.

“We will continue to communicate directly with the family.”

Ms Puvogel said the department has “recently commenced” a training plan with pediatric nurse consultants and the Lyell McEwin Hospital emergency department nursing team on nasogastric tube replacement.

“It is a specialised task and difficult for premature babies.”

Originally published as ‘We refuse to go’: Parents of eight-month-old Indigo Murray slam ‘appalling’ hospital care