Bankstown Hospital gas mix-up baby Amelia Khan defies all odds
After being given nitrous oxide instead of oxygen as a newborn in hospital, Amelia Khan’s parents were told their baby wouldn’t live past six months. But she proved them wrong.
NSW
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Amelia Khan was the newborn baby given six months to live after suffering irreversible brain damage when administered nitrous oxide gas instead of oxygen in a horrifying hospital mix-up.
Today she is a determined four-year-old who loves to kick a ball, swim in the ocean and lights up her childcare centre with her personality and will.
Like any big sister she shrugs away her adoring little sister Eva when she instinctively wipes food from the side of her mouth she can’t clean herself, and bristles at needing her help to straighten her body when she’s sitting awkwardly and can’t right herself.
Amelia wants to do things on her own despite her quadriplegic cerebral palsy, because her selfless parents have taught her to shoot for the stars.
And they give her every chance to reach them.
“Watching Eva grow with Amelia is just so beautiful. She knows there is something unique about her sister and she always tries to help,” mum Benish Khan told The Sunday Telegraph.
Amelia inhaled the colourless gas commonly used for sedation and pain relief shortly after birth in June 2016 after a subcontractor mixed up two gas pipelines in the delivery ward.
The chilling bungle at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital left the healthy baby girl with a traumatic brain injury.
Her devastated parents, Danial and Benish Khan agonised over whether to turn off her life support. Doctors predicted Amelia had just months to live and her condition was unlikely to improve.
Amelia proved them all wrong.
And every year she brings her smile back to the hospital that drew international attention for the mistake — reminding the amazing doctors and nurses who held her tiny limp body of just how far she has come on her annual check-ups.
“There are so many things they said when she was born she couldn’t do and that her brain injury was irreversible,” Mrs Khan said.
“They said she wouldn’t live past six months old so the fact she continues to thrive was a big surprise for everyone.
“We went back to the hospital for the first year, then second and then third and fourth, every year they get to celebrate with us the challenges that she has overcome.”
The Western Sydney couple have empathy for the staff that experienced their own kind of hell when they discovered what had caused Amelia’s disabilities.
In fact they want Amelia to grow up to see her mum and dad hold no grudges.
“After she was born, for a good month we were still going back to the hospital for care because it took that long before they figured out what was wrong,” Mrs Khan explained.
“For the first month of her life was the hardest. She was on palliative care and we built up a relationship with all her carers, we know how hard it would have been for them too.”
Mr and Mrs Khan don’t pretend the past four-and-a-half years have been easy.
They struggled to deal with the pressure of life in the spotlight with a baby with special needs and were increasingly frustrated that more wasn’t being done to stop such a tragedy from happening again.
“There were so many things to juggle. It was breaking us a lot as a family at home, it was frustrating to see such a simple and obvious change they could make and they weren’t willing to do that. We felt very disappointed,” Mr Khan said.
“We felt politics was more important than ensuring people’s lives are safe.
“So many issues that led to the whole incident … unqualified people, people signing off things that were not correct. For us it just felt like it wasn’t important or taken seriously.”
The contractor responsible for the gas mix-up that poisoned Amelia, and newborn John Ghanem who died a month later at the same hospital after also being given the deadly gas instead of oxygen, was fined $100,000.
SafeWork NSW brought a case against Christopher Turner, 58, who was contracted by BOC Limited to install medical gas pipes at the hospital.
The Khans were “extremely disappointed” other workers hadn’t also been held to account for their involvement.
Mrs Khan did her research and discovered Queensland had changed laws as a direct result of Amelia’s case and Victoria already had in place legislation that prevented such disasters.
The couple heard Labor MP Mark Buttigieg speak in NSW parliament on the issue and hoped he could be their voice.
“The issue was raised with me by the Plumbing Trades Employees Union that this industry wasn’t regulated,” Mr Buttigieg explains.
“You could literally walk in off the street and install medical gas. Obviously that was extremely worrying, as it requires specialist skills.
“After I made my speech in Parliament and Benish and Danial reached out to me.
“I decided to move a private members bill on behalf of the Labor Opposition. It passed through the upper house unopposed, this is the first time that has happened in over 20 years.” When it got to the lower house it was voted down. It was only because of the courage and commitment of Danial and Benish that we were able to raise attention.
“Eventually the government got dragged kicking and screaming and introduced their own bill. It was deficient in many areas and would have the left the public at extreme risk,” Mr Buttigieg said.
“I moved 29 amendments and every single one of those passed both Houses of Parliament and as a result formed the majority of the legislation that is now in place.”
“The end result was a very robust form of legislation to protect residents of our state, it ensures people are qualified properly, that trained people install medical gas.
“I never thought I would get to legislate from Opposition but we were able to make a difference. I don’t think I’ll ever do anything as important as that in my life again.”
For the Khans it’s time to focus on giving Amelia every chance at a normal life.
“She does everything, there is nothing she is limited from doing, but she needs assistance with it,” her proud dad said.
She lifts her left leg to signal “yes” and her right leg to single “no”, and talks to her parents via a special program on her iPad.
“If we wants to go to the beach we support her whole body so that she can feel the water on her toes. If she wants to play soccer we will pick her up and get her to kick the ball,” Mr Khan said.
“There’s nothing she can’t do because we are there for her. But from a medical perspective she can’t walk or talk or do many things. We are here to help her do all that.”
The couple know their daughter will need one-on-one care for the rest of her life.
“I won’t deny it’s been extremely hard. We have really hard days,” Mr Khan said.
“All parents struggle but there needs to be more support for parents with special needs children. It doesn’t get talked about enough,” Mrs Khan said.
“Your life becomes completely focused on the child, no one asks how the parents are doing.”
“We were fortunate enough to push for that … we pushed a lot with Bankstown Hospital and they gave us access to therapy. They help us through the process.”
They know Amelia’s disabilities mean she will always need someone by her side, helping her through every part of life – “but that doesn’t mean she won’t be able to accomplish things”.
“She’s been able to make such a big change in four years imagine what she can accomplish the rest of her life as long as she has the right people by her side,” Mrs Khan said.
