Australia hospital under fire after 3 child deaths within 6 weeks lead to legal action

A hospital in Australia is under fire after at least three children died within six weeks, sparking outrage over alleged mismanagement and staff shortages at the facility.

The deaths, which occurred between September and October 2024, have prompted legal action from the parents of the children and renewed scrutiny of the hospital’s operations, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported on Tuesday.

Located 150km east of Melbourne, Latrobe Regional Hospital (LRH) is a major medical service provider for a population of 290,000 in the Gippsland region of southeastern Victoria.

One of the cases involves Nadine Lont, who claims she experienced a rupture in the placenta while giving birth and was left in excruciating pain for two and s half hours until she was given an epidural, instead of the emergency caesarean she was supposed to receive.

She eventually gave birth naturally, but her daughter, Lacey, was deprived of oxygen for too long and was born brain-dead.

“I can’t fathom why my bleeding wasn’t a concern, why I was screaming for my life but [the] medical staff didn’t intervene,” she told the ABC.