Fatal connection: death caused by direct connection of oxygen tubing into a tracheal tube connector.

Abstract

During cardiopulmonary resuscitation, oxygen extension tubing was mistakenly connected into the tracheal tube connector. As a result, the patient recovering from hypovolemic cardiac arrest died because of pulmonary barotrauma. Similar cases have been reported. We suggest that a worldwide equipment performance standard be developed to prevent future occurrences and describe an example of connectors that would prevent such misconnections.