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.
Gas Mixup
Christopher Laurie Turner faces a charge of manslaughter by criminal negligence related to the infant’s death in Bankstown hospital on July 13, 2016. (Nine)

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.

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