Incubator Fire Badly Burns Minn. Newborn

Specialties NICU

Published

How the heck did this happen???

MINNEAPOLIS - Oxygen ignited inside a special hood worn by a newborn infant in a hospital, burning the boy's head and face and leaving him in critical condition.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080124/ap_on_re_us/newborn_incubator_fire

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I'm now wondering if it was static?

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Oh . . . that poor baby . . . .and nurse. What a horrible accident.

steph

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Specializes in PICU, ICU, Transplant, Trauma, Surgical.

How very sad :o I hope the lil guy ends up doing okay. Very very tragic.

There are lots of scary things lurking around the NICU that can cause fires. Purell+Static+Oxygen=FIRE!

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Specializes in NICU level III.

Thats horrible! How sad for everybody involved. :(

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Specializes in NICU.

Yeah, how did that happen?!?!

Wow, that's just awful. Sounds like he was a healthy kid with a bit of RDS ..... now he's tubed and has multiple burns all over. Dang :(

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Specializes in ICU, OR.

Very sad. Maybe Vaseline/petroleum was on him? Isn't that dangerous when used around 02?

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That poor sweetie, thank goodness burn units believe in good sedation.

During the summer we had a baby from general nursery come and stay with us over the long weekend until he could get into the burn unit. He recieved 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his leg/groin area from a defective heat lamp during his circ. He went straight to surgery from the circumcision and then came to us. Poor baby.

Tina

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

Oh my gosh. It's so easy to get complacent in well-baby nursery to think all is well. Crap can hit the fan in a heartbeat!

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Last update: January 24, 2008 - 11:39 AM

The baby boy was only 12 hours old when fire burst out in his bassinet at Mercy Hospital in Coon Rapids on Tuesday.

And he was only 14 hours old when he was rushed to the Hennepin County Medical Center burn unit, the youngest patient ever treated there.

By Wednesday, the boy named Maverick was in stable but critical condition with burns on...

Read article in its entirety:

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/health/14024831.html

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Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.

Something terrible happened for sure but it wasn't the oxygen catching on fire. Oxygen doesn't burn it just makes anything flammable burn faster and at a greater intensity. Static would probably not do it. It's more likely something caught fire in the heater arm and dropped onto the blankets that would have been saturated with O2 causing them to ignite quickly and burn hot and fast. This is why nothing should be attached to the heater arm like twill tape to hold up gastroschesis silos. I've even seen blankets tossed on top, tape for IV's and ETT tubes hanging from it. Makes me cringe every time. Now because of this error printed in the paper we are going to have freaked out parents thinking their child is going to be harmed from exploding O2.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, educator.

We just read this at work! Man, that is terrible! I agree with the poster that said maybe something fell from the heating element...I know that when ours sit for a while they get dust up there and they smell like they are going to ignite! I am sure some sentinel event is coming from this when they figure it out. We did have 2 parents kind of act freaky today about their kid in a hood, and it took alot of persuasion to make them feel safe!

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