FOR the most part, as a species, humans tend to take the basics of life for granted.
It is hard to fathom what life must be like for the vision impaired for those with 20/20 vision, or for those who have hearing impairments.
Imagine that you have a child with a hearing impairment.
No doubt many of you out there have seen one of those heart-warming videos of an infant hearing its mother or fathers voice for the first time.
You would be hard pressed to find someone that hasn’t been touched by one of those clips.
But imagine what the feeling must be like when those moments don’t happen, even after getting an implant fitted.
That’s what the families of at least 30 children have experienced over the past couple of years, thanks to a bungle from the Women’s and Children’s Hospital.
Last week it was revealed that cochlear implants had been programmed incorrectly, causing what is expected to be lifelong development problems.
Among those is the Salter family in Nuriootpa, with boys Angus and Henry left unable to hear any sounds through their implants.
Mum Natalie this week told The Bunyip that the family was left “devastated” by this, as it meant everything they had done for their boys “had been done in vain”.
She said the family felt that they had “been let down by those we trusted”. To put it bluntly, the situation is nothing short of scandalous.
Even one child left with development problems is one child too many, but to impact upwards of 30 children in a program of more than 100 is mind boggling.
The families of those involved have called for an independent review to be launched in order to get some much deserved answers.
Following the revelations, Health Minister Chris Picton gave the green light to an investigation.
He said that an internal review would also be conducted. But this issue won’t be going away any time soon, and as South Australians we should be outraged that this even happened in the first place.
