A newborn died after doctors gave him laughing gas instead of oxygen in hospital, it has been reported.
Just an hour after he was born baby boy John Ghanem died after medics used the wrong equipment in a frantic bid to get him breathing.
Local media reports that instead of oxygen, staff pumped nitrous oxide into the boy's body.
An inquest heard that the gas had only been there due to an 'installation error' that had gone unnoticed for over a year.
The mix-up only came to light after a doctor saw similarities with the fatal incident and the death of a boy in India due to a similar mix up.
News.com.au reports that the tragedy unfolded in an operating theatre at Bankstown-Lidcombe Hospital in Sydney on July 13, 2016.
Lidcombe Coroners Court heard that the obstetrician of the boy's mum Sonya had decided to give her an emergency caesarean.
After he was born he was placed in a resuscitation area as doctors noticed a loose part of his umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and he was not breathing as he should.
Doctors then fitted a mask to the boy to pump air into his lungs but after he failed to respond well they hooked the mask up to a gas line labelled as oxygen.
Not long after he was pronounced dead after attempts were made to save him, including CPR, life support and an adrenaline shot, it was reported.
The Sun reports that five years after their baby died, Sonya and husband Youssef still go into his bedroom, hoping to see him in his cot.
The mum-of-three said: "I come home and look at his room and no baby. I went in [to the hospital] empty handed thinking I'll hold my newborn but no."
It was further reported that weeks before John's death, another baby suffered permanent brain damage after she was accidentally given laughing gas in the same operating theatre.
The inquest continues.
