Baby’s life-saving op cancelled five times

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Imogen Ohlsen was born in February in need of a vital operation but has been turned away at the last minute five times. Picture: Liam Kidston Source: News Limited

A TINY 12-week-old girl, who has been at the Lady Cilento Children’s Hospital since she was born, has been denied life-saving surgery on five occasions because of a shortage of beds and staff.

Imogen Ohlsen was born in February with a hole in her heart and in need of a vital operation but has been turned away at the last minute five times, including yesterday morning, at Brisbane’s newest state-of-the-art hospital.

Her mother Emily Ohlsen told The Courier-Mail she feared for her daughter’s life.

“Surgeons said she is in heart failure but she can’t have it (operation) because there’s no beds or staff,” Ms Ohlsen said.

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She said a consent form was signed which described her daughter’s condition as life-threatening.

Health Minister Cameron Dick said he was concerned about Imogen’s ordeal and has demanded an explanation from the hospital, which is under its second review since it opened on November 29.

Children who undergo surgery are placed in the Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) to recover.

Children’s Health Queensland chief executive Fionnagh Dougan said the hospital had had a surge in patients.

Chris Mcleod and Emily Ohlsen say they fear for their daughter’s life as her condition de

Chris Mcleod and Emily Ohlsen say they fear for their daughter’s life as her condition deteriorates. Source: News Corp Australia

“We are funded for 24 PICU beds, however we are able to increase our capacity as required depending on the availability of staff,” Ms Dougan said.

“We have had on average 28 patients in the PICU over recent weeks.”

The surgeons have told Imogen’s parents her condition has deteriorated in the past few weeks.

“It (the heart) needs a patch put on it because it’s a 6mm hole,” Ms Ohlsen said.

Ms Dougan said staff at the hospital would not operate unless they had the facilities available to patients.

“We understand how distressing and disruptive it can be for parents when an elective surgery is cancelled, however we do not take these decisions lightly and only ever cancel an elective surgery when we have no other option,” she said.