Claims of Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital fatal gas bungle ‘cover-up’

THE aunt of the baby killed in the Bankstown Hospital gas bungle says she does not believe Health Minister Jillian Skinner would have released the details about the case had it not hit the media.

• Distressed woman dies at gas error hospital
• Family of baby who died in gas mix-up devastated
• Baby dies, another brain damaged in oxygen error

AN aunt of the baby killed in the Bankstown-Lidcombe hospital gas bungle says she does not believe Health Minister Jillian Skinner would have ever released the information about the family’s case had it not hit the media and has accused the government of a “cover-up”.

Ms Skinner said she did not inform the public about ­incidents of nitrous oxide being used instead of oxygen, which killed baby John Ghanem and left another newborn brain damaged, out of respect for the families’ ­request for privacy.

But Ms Skinner’s office admitted to The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday night it was only the family of the brain-damaged child who did not want the information made public.

‘It’s just a cover-up’ ... Sonya Ghanem and Rania Kharma.

“We got told about this on the Saturday,” Rania Kharma, John Ghanem’s aunt, said. “She had every opportunity to come out with the press conference on that Saturday. It’s just a cover-up. Definitely a cover-up.”

Ms Kharma also questioned why the Ghanems had to return to the scene of the tragedy, rather than having staff visit them at home to tell them why their baby had died.

The government yesterday continued to refuse to confirm if a clinician checked the gas bottle after it was ­installed by an engineer and before it was used on the babies.

The state Opposition will move to set up a parliamentary inquiry into the tragedy to break what it calls a government “wall of silence” on the issue.

Youssef and Sonya Ghanem are devastated after the death of their baby boy. Picture: Facebook

Under pressure ... Health Minister Jillian Skinner

Yesterday, Ms Skinner told 2GB privacy was requested by the first set of parents and it was the same for the “second case”.

A spokeswoman for the Minister told The Daily Telegraph on Tuesday night: “The Minister was advised that one family made it clear to hospital staff they wished the matter to remain private. The Minister weighed this issue very carefully but considered she had an obligation to respect the wishes of the families.”

The minister’s office released a short statement last night saying her approach to public discussion of the tragedy had been “guided by advice from senior hospital staff” who were in “regular contact with the families”.

Calls for Ms Skinner’s resignation come as news emerged that a woman committed suicide at Bankstown Hospital on the same day the baby scandal broke. The dead woman was found in an isolation area at the hospital’s Banks House on Monday.

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