A gasfitter accused of negligently killing a newborn baby who was fatally administered nitrous oxide instead of oxygen in hospital will fight the charge at trial.
Christopher Laurie Turner faces a charge of manslaughter by criminal negligence related to the infant’s death at Bankstown Hospital on July 13, 2016.
The boy, who required resuscitation post-birth, died of severe hypoxemia in the south-west Sydney hospital’s neonatal ward 57 minutes after being born.
Police allege Turner failed official standards when certifying the ward’s oxygen links, leading to a gas connection that gave the baby a lethal dose of nitrous oxide rather than oxygen.
Turner is also charged with causing grievous bodily harm by a negligent act or omission to another baby on the ward, who suffered a brain injury after receiving the wrong gas.
On Friday, Turner entered pleas of not guilty to both charges in Sydney’s Downing Centre District Court.
Judge John Pickering ordered a continuation of his bail and the matter was adjourned to October 9 for mention.
Turner was charged in August 2022 following a coroner’s referral of the matter to the NSW Director of Public Prosecutions.
