Injected with antiseptic instead of epidural!!! *potentially distressing*

[Babyluv]

Oh my gosh, I just saw on the morning news that a lady is in a critical condition after being injected with antiseptic fluid by mistake when she was having an epidural!!!
How on earth does something like this happen? The poor woman hasn't even held her new baby

[Freya]

Oh that poor woman! I hope she is going to be ok.
Makes me so glad I never had an epi.

[~ Zarava Flutterby ~]

How horible, i hope she's ok and gets to hold her LO soon.

[DaintreeDream]

ALEXANDER ZHENG'S cot is still unassembled in a Hurstville apartment where he has never been.

Home, for now, is a bassinet wedged into a room in the high-dependency unit of St George Hospital, where the two-month-old's mother lies catastrophically injured.

Grace Wang's spinal canal was injected with powerful antiseptic instead of anaesthetic, in what should have been a routine epidural to ease the pain of her first child's birth.

The Herald understand the two substances had been transferred to separate metal dishes on the sterile table, contravening the standard practice of drawing them directly from their packaging into a syringe to avoid confusion.
The devastating medical mistake - inconceivable in its magnitude - has poisoned her nervous system, leaving the 32-year-old distressed, confused, in shocking pain and unable to walk or even sit.
She has lost the strength to hold Alex and rarely asks about her baby, as she did constantly after his birth.

How horrible this story is.

How could this happen? Hospital blunder turns a family's joy into heartbreak | smh.com.au

[Ginger]

i can't believe it. how horrible. the poor mum.
i just saw on the Today Show that she is unable to breastfeed him as it may poison him.

[Elocin]

I just heard this on the news

That poor woman...

[*Ash*]

This is horrific. I am so, so sad for this woman, baby and her husband.

Someone posted a thread about this recently - a friend of the couple. I will see if I can find it and link it here.

[Miss K]

This is soo soo horrible!!! How the heck can you mistake the 2 like why didn't they check it and check it again!!! Poor poor thing I hope she recovers real soon!!!

[aussienic]

How horrible.. Does anyone know if she will recover?

[HotI]

Can this thread be given a **Distressing** label?

[Tinks]

that poor woman!

[belfie]

Can this thread be given a **Distressing** label?

I agree - can we have a warning on this thread? I personally found it very distressing to read. I feel for that woman but equally, wish I hadn't read this.

[Kazbah]

This is rather sad I can't believe this would happen. No amount of compensation $$$ can remedy this.

[Pandora]

If you read the full article, recovery chances are not so good.

[sneakysparkle]

I am gobsmacked.
This makes me feel ill, that poor woman, and the poor darling child
Too horrific to even think about really, but thats easy for me to say when its not my reality.

[Bumperstump Cummerbund]

That is downright disgusting - and for them to have the antiseptic out in the first place, does that mean she had a caesarean? Without anaesthetic??

[Traveller]

This has happened before, to a woman in Liverpool, England. I think at the time they said there was a legitimate reason for having the antiseptic in the vicinity of the epidural needle, but I can't remember the specifics. The woman in that case had a very rough time, but has survived.

[~Trish~]

Oh, this is awful! The full article explains that the antiseptic was meant to be used at the injection site to kill any potential bacteria and somehow got mixed up with the anesthesia. The woman in Liverpool only had a droplet of antiseptic and was paralysed for life . This woman had much more than a droplet.

Keike - She may have just had an epidural for pain relief during labour, they didn't mention anything about a c/s in the article.

I just can't fathom this .