Local News in Brief : Hospital Reports on Fire That Killed Baby
An electrical spark from a surgical tool set fire to oxygen-soaked gauze, causing the accident that killed a baby boy last week in a Cedars-Sinai Medical Center operating room, a hospital spokesman said Wednesday, but the source of the oxygen was still unknown.
Spokesman Ron Wise said there was no evidence that malfunctioning equipment leaked the oxygen that fueled the flash fire that killed “Baby DeJesus” Oct. 6.
Fire investigators determined that “there was no fault on anybody’s part” on the staff of the Los Angeles hospital, Fire Inspector Ed Reed said.”
The flash fire erupted while surgeons were using an electrical cauterizer to correct a birth defect caused by the 2-pound infant being born 14 weeks premature. A spark from the cauterizer ignited gauze pads used to soak up blood during the operation, Reed said.
Investigators do not know the source of the highly flammable gas, and the operating room will remain closed until the investigation is completed, Wise said.
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