SYDNEY, April 24 (Xinhua) -- An Australian woman has sued a troubled hospital, claiming poor treatment left her newborn son with irreparable brain damage.
Harper Button was born by elective caesarean at the Bacchus Marsh Hospital, 60 km west of Melbourne, and remained in the care of the hospital for 36 hours.
In a writ filed in Victoria's court system by Harper's mother, Sarah Milligan, on Monday, it is alleged that Harper developed global development delay while being cared for at the hospital.
Milligan claimed that hospital staff noted that harper was grunting while breathing, a symptom of respiratory problems.
"The nursing staff noted respiratory distress on multiple occasions and contacted doctors to adjust the oxygen flow in the ward," the writ said.
An x-ray taken the day after his birth revealed increased opaqueness throughout Harper's lungs.
After remaining in the ward for 36 hours, Harper's condition did not improve and he was transferred.
"As a result of the (hospital's) poor treatment of (Harper), he now suffers from cognitive impairment including but not limited to, global developmental delay," Milligan wrote.
The writ claimed that the hospital's failure to appropriately monitor and manage Harper's condition was responsible for his current condition.
It is the latest in a long line of controversies to plague the hospital which came under investigation when 11 newborn babies died at the hospital in 2013 and 2014.
A government review into the hospital found significant failures to properly care for the babies with seven of the deaths declared preventable.
The parents of a number of those babies have filed law suits against the hospital.
