Saskatoon baby's insulin mix-up haunts mother

A mother whose infant son died last year after a medication mix-up at Saskatoon's Royal University Hospital is breaking her silence about a recent out-of-court settlement.

Bonnie Washam's six-week-old, Andrew, died two weeks after being accidentally given insulin in his intravenous line instead of the blood-clot prevention drug heparin. The baby was among four babies in the August 2010 incident that were given the wrong drug while in neonatal care.

Washam told CBC News an out-of-court deal was reached in October with the health region, but that she felt pressured to accept. She is not permitted to discuss the amount of money she received due to a gag order imposed by the health region as part of the deal.

"To me, it's kind of a slap to the face," Washam said. "But at least it's settled. I think they should have actually admitted it was their fault right from the beginning. It obviously wasn't my fault."

Doctors said they don't know what the potential long-term effects of the medical mishap will be for the other three babies involved.

Washam said that no matter the sum from her settlement, the pain of losing her first-born son will never fade.

"Nothing will take away that we had a son and he's not here," she said. "It'll always bother us that he's not here."

The infants were in the same care unit because they were born prematurely. The Saskatoon Health Region said insulin and heparin were placed side-by-side in alphabetical order, but the two drugs have since been separated.

The mistake caused the babies to develop critically low blood sugar levels. The infants had to be stabilized overnight.

Baby Andrew's health deteriorated quickly after the insulin dose. His cause of death was determined to be pneumonia.