Jillian Skinner: NSW Health Minister admits to more errors in hospitals
THE NSW Health Minister has been forced to admit devastating new errors in hospitals — including two dead babies being mixed up, causing one to be wrongly cremated.
EMBATTLED NSW Health Minister Jillian Skinner has been forced to admit a series of devastating new errors in hospitals — including two dead babies being mixed up, causing one to be cremated against its family’s wishes.
The horrendous mistake occurred at Royal North Shore Hospital as the miscarried bub, born after just 20 weeks gestation, was incorrectly identified after its death, leading to its cremation.
The baby’s family had requested a burial but the grim error was only realised after they received the infant’s ashes. The baby it had been confused with was stillborn and cremated as per its family’s wishes.
Revelations of the 2015 bungle emerged yesterday as Ms Skinner and senior bureaucrats were questioned by the state opposition during parliament’s budget estimates.
“While they both had identification that was correct, there was a blanket on one of them with a label that staff believed was the other baby,” said Chief Health Officer Dr Kerry Chant.
Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD) apologised last night and said: “A number of measures have since been put in place to avoid a similar mistake being repeated in the future.”
But a similar identification error did occur just a few months later — at the same hospital.
A woman whose elderly mother died at Royal North Shore Hospital on April 23 discovered her body was incorrectly labelled by mortuary staff after she asked to take one last photograph of her.
The 89-year-old woman was admitted to Royal North Shore’s emergency department five days earlier suffering “weight loss, weakness and low mood”.
Her 65-year-old daughter asked nursing staff on Ward 9E if she could take a final photo of her mother — only to find mortuary tags on the body and mortuary bag were incorrect.
NSLHD said the error was “deeply regretted” and staff had been counselled.
Ms Skinner said “thank god” the daughter realised the error before the body was buried.
In a further case, Dr Chant revealed that a body had to be exhumed because it had been wrongly identified by mortuary staff at a southwest Sydney hospital and buried in the wrong coffin.
That case is believed to have occurred several years ago.
The revelations follow delays in the Health Department informing two families their babies were mistakenly given nitrous oxide instead of oxygen at Bankstown Hospital in June and July — leading to the death of one and serious brain damage to the other.
There were also lengthy delays informing patients that senior oncologist John Grygiel had been giving “off protocol” low chemo doses at St Vincent’s Hospital.
Ms Skinner told yesterday’s hearing she was “devastated” for the families affected by the latest errors.
“I can understand how distressing it must be,” she said.
Originally published as Jillian Skinner: NSW Health Minister admits to more errors in hospitals
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