[sgbuffett]

I remember this Singapore case very well abt Singaporeans follow rules no matter what.

TODAY, Friday, 17th March, 2006
FAULTY GANTRY IMPEDES BABY’S HOSPITAL DASH
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Infant pronounced dead on arrival at CGH
Lin Yanqin
yanqinl@newstoday.com.sg
IT is every parent’s nightmare: Trying to rush a baby to hospital and
finding that the car park barrier would not open.
In this case, the nightmare will last a lifetime as Ignatius, who was to
turn one month old on Tuesday, died before he could be taken to hospital.
The baby’s mother, Mrs Pauline Lim, a 26-year-old student nurse, had taken
him to a babycare festival at Singapore Expo

over the weekend when he suddenly stopped breathing in her arms.
Passers-by lent a hand by performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the
infant before on-site paramedics arrived to take Ignatius to a stand-by
ambulance.
Confusion followed. The car park barrier would not lift. The paramedics
shouted into the intercom for security to release the barrier manually.
According to Mr Christopher Lim, 32, the baby’s father, more than 10
minutes were spent in trying to raise the gantry.
Eventually, Ignatius had to be passed over the barrier to a second
ambulance that someone had called. He was taken to Changi General Hospital
but was pronounced dead on arrival.
Mr Lim, a radio network engineer who was in Nigeria for work when the
tragedy occurred, is livid.
“I’m angry and shocked that there was no one at the security desk to
assist the ambulance while my son hung on for his life. He might have had
a slim chance of survival, but the delay reduced that.”
The infant’s death has been attributed to cardio-respiratory failure, the
cause of which is still unknown. The family is waiting for autopsy
results.
The child’s doctors and his godfather, Dr Gerald Koh, speculate that
Sudden Infant Death Syndrome – which affects apparently healthy infants –
may have claimed Ignatius’s life.
“But even if nothing could have been done to save the baby, it could have
been someone else in a life-or-death situation,” said Dr Koh. “In an
emergency, there cannot be any errors.”
When contacted, Singex Venues – which manages Singapore Expo – said it had
yet to complete its investigations.
Said Singex general manager Matthew Meredith: “It’s still unclear what
happened, so it’s not appropriate for us to comment at the moment.”
The family is devastated. “My wife is not doing well. She’s still trying
to grasp the reality of what happened,” said Mr Lim.
“I can only talk to her, that’s all I can do. You can’t mend a broken
heart like that.”
He said he was considering legal action against Singapore Expo.