Newborn's oxygen hood catches fire at hospital

flashl

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Thu Jan-24-08 08:41 AM
Original message

Newborn's oxygen hood catches fire at hospital

MINNEAPOLIS — Oxygen ignited inside a special hood worn by a newborn infant in a hospital, burning the boy's head and face and leaving him in critical condition.

The newborn was lying in an open-topped bassinet under a warmer at Mercy Hospital in suburban Coon Rapids on Tuesday when the accident happened, Allina Hospital and Clinics said in a statement.

The baby was wearing an oxygen hood, a device that fits over the face to supply additional oxygen, when something caused the gas to ignite, the statement read.

Nurses who were with the baby immediately put out the fire, Allina said. Authorities were investigating.

Allina spokesman David Kanihan declined to release the brand of oxygen hood and warmer, citing the investigation.

The baby, born three weeks early, was taken to the neonatal intensive care unit at Hennepin County Medical Center and is being treated by doctors from the hospital's burn centre. Hospital officials said Wednesday that he was in critical but stable condition.

Globe and Mail

Any ideas about what went wrong?

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yellowcanine

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Thu Jan-24-08 08:53 AM
Response to Original message

1. Hard telling - unfortunately this is not an isolated case. Fires in connection with medical oxygen

Edited on Thu Jan-24-08 08:53 AM by yellowcanine

are a constant threat in hospitals and with portable oxygen units. Any kind of spark, even static electricity, can ignite flammable materials in the presence of high levels of oxygen. Whoever wrote this piece needs a science lesson. Oxygen itself does not "ignite". It causes other things to ignite.

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trotsky

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Thu Jan-24-08 08:54 AM
Response to Original message

2. It has been all over the local news of course.

Edited on Thu Jan-24-08 08:55 AM by trotsky

No theories yet. This kind of thing is exceedingly rare, so there's not a lot of data to go on.

This is just my personal and UNINFORMED speculation here, but it has been quite cold here in MN lately and with extreme cold comes extremely DRY indoor air. Static electricity goes through the roof. I don't know if it is possible to ignite a pure oxygen environment with a decent static spark, but that strikes me as plausible. Just an accident.

On edit: seeing yellow's comment above, I should clarify - accidents with medical oxygen are definitely NOT rare. But this KIND of accident, with an infant in an oxygen hood, is. Or at least that's what the local news claimed.

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yellowcanine

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Thu Jan-24-08 09:24 AM
Response to Reply #2

3. Yes fires involving infants are rare because strict protocols are followed. But anytime an oxygen

hood is used there is significant risk. It will be a miracle if this child survives.

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chicagomd

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Thu Jan-24-08 01:36 PM
Response to Reply #3

7. Significant risk?

I will be honest I have not investigated this issue to much, but I use oxygen hoods relatively frequently and don't recall every having a fire. Significant relative to just 21% oxygen, I suppose.

And survival will depend more on how much of the child's airway was involved, how much of his skin surface area was burned, and how competent the burn doctors are more than any type of divine intervention.

Just saying...

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yellowcanine

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Thu Jan-24-08 02:26 PM
Response to Reply #7

8. There is always a risk of fire in high oxygen environments, Pay attention to the protocols, that's

the key. As for "miracle", I was using it the term generically. High risk patient to start with any burns in the airway are potentially life threatening - just saying.

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BrklynLiberal

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Thu Jan-24-08 09:37 AM
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4. How horrific for the parents.....

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Warpy

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Thu Jan-24-08 10:22 AM
Response to Original message

5. This is tragic, but a lot of the things around the kiddo were flammable

and the hood saturated them with oxygen. It would only take the smallest zap from static electricity to start a fire.

It's why we tell COPD patients on oxygen that it's a really, really bad idea to keep smoking. They don't just burn, they tend to explode.

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chicagomd

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Thu Jan-24-08 01:30 PM
Response to Original message

6. Airway fires

are usually described in the OR but theoretically can occur anytime the oxygen concentration goes over about 23%. Typically in an oxygen hood it is about 35-40%, so the risk is there, but unlike an intubated patient there is not hyper oxygenated gas being pushed into the lungs. I have never heard of a case like this before.

From the information presented it is not clear if the burns are isolated to the face or if they involve the trachea or lungs. Obviously the more of the airway involved the worse it will be for the child.

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