Mom Who Was Injected With Skin-Cleanser Instead Of Epidural Is Left Paralyzed

Nov 12, 2019

Because of a bizarre mishap at a Sydney hospital, Grace Wang will never be able to chase her newly-born son around the house. When the 33-year-old mother gave birth to her first child Alex, the anesthesiologist mistakenly injected chlorhexidine, a cleansing fluid, directly into her spine instead of the standard epidural pain killer that is administered during birth.

The hospital has admitted that the damage to Mrs. Wang was due to staff error. This is an extremely rare mishap that has never happened at any hospital until this incident. Grace not only suffered nerve damage, but she also had brain damage that required two brain surgeries. She is now expected to be paralyzed from the waist down for life according to SBS News. 

Giving birth to your first child is usually a wonderful life experience, but for the Wang family, it turned out to be a nightmare. Sadly, Mrs. Wang could not even hold her new baby when he was brought to her. Grace described her feelings of sadness to SBS News when she saw nurses holding her baby Alex. She said that little Alex was very cute, and this made her wish she could hold him herself.

How did this mishap occur? Apparently, there were two similar-looking bottles of clear liquid on an operating room table. Someone mistakenly switched the epidural with a cleanser because they couldn't tell which was which. The person who made the error was not identified.

Grace told the news outlet that she still feels stiff and uncomfortable in her wheelchair. She says that the nerves throughout her body are in pain because of the skin cleanser that was injected into her spine.

What do you think should be done about this error to prevent it from happening again at this hospital? Let us know in the comments, and send a link to your friends on social media.