Preemie Burned when Oxygen Hood Ignites
As if being in the NICU isn’t bad enough, imagine getting the call that the lifesaving equipment that has been helping your baby breathe in the NICU has burst into flames, burning your baby over a fifth of his body. I’m not making this stuff up. In Minnesota last week, a baby born three weeks early was taken to the NICU and placed on a warming bed, under an oxygen hood, a device that fits over the head and provides oxygen and / or humidified air. Something happened which caused the oxygen in the hood to ignite, and only the quick work of nearby nurses allowed the fire to be extinguished and the baby to survive.
Baby Maverick was transferred to another NICU so he could be treated by burn unit physicians. He’s on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his face, head, shoulders and hands. He is expected to live a normal life, with use of his hands, but one burn unit doctor admits they have no experience treating burns in someone so young.
Although this is the first time I’ve read about an oxygen hood catching fire, this definitely isn’t the first time a baby has been burned by a fire in a hospital. While I was in medical school, there was always an anesthesiologist with a story about a baby being burned by a fire started during surgery. Usually, the story included something about oxygen and the use of a device called a bovie, an electric cauterizing and cutting tool frequently used in surgery. Frightening.
Local authorities are investigating if anything malfunctioned in either the warmer or oxygen hood, resulting in the fire. Hopefully, the investigation will result in some real answers and appropriate training and safety practices, or if necessary, product recalls to prevent this accident from happening again.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
