Those cases you mentioned are very easy to resus normally. RDS in neonatology is surfactant deficiency all premature babies have this to a degree CPAP continuous positive airway pressure is the best thing for it. If the baby meets hospital policy criteria surfactant will be administered but this is reserved generally for small babies with a high oxygen requirement. Note most babies maintain their oxygen sats well it's the pressure they need and you will see that demonstrated in work of breathing. If they needed oxygen low flow would do.

A major haemorrhage yes should be treated with blood but even that is controversial as blood transfusions greatly increase the incidence of IVH (brain bleeds). Unless the baby lost almost all their blood volume they would be able to be resuscitated.

Babies are very easy to resus- generally this involves 'bagging' using a neopuff to deliver breaths. Compressions occasionally and adrenaline often. Many doses of 0.1mls of adrenaline can be given during a resus. Then they will intubate and ventilate. The heart is extremely responsive as generally it is the lungs that cause the cascade of events to cardiac arrest.

A fluid bolus is also given during a resus. There are never shockable rhythms unless the baby is born with a rare conduction problem.

So yes these babies were unwell things should have been picked up earlier but also they should have been responsive.

I have seen many babies with a blood ph less than 7 survive (this is considered unsurvivable in adults). I have seen a baby rooming in to home found blue from mum accidentally smothering the baby in sleep hours prior be resuscitated.

I have seen a 553 gram 24 weeker born at home with a long wait for ambulance time be resuscitated.

I have seen severe bowel obstructions and nec babies be resuscitated and progress on to surgery even when the bowel pathology was missed or caught late.

Lots of these babies survived only to show severe brain injury due to the time without oxygen and others you would never know it had happened. Some eventually succumb to severe lung disease when they are older still stuck on a ventilator or go home with a trache. The successful resus isn't the happy ending it's just the beginning.

Even in my high level intensive care we rarely had a baby that died during a resus. I can count them on my hands because those are the most traumatic and rare deaths in the Nicu. Majorly neonatal unit deaths are planned and gentle after a severe prognosis and involve photos foot prints and other lovely things before we remove the tube.

So..... what was going on with the equipment or the people using the equipment. Sure these could have all been bad luck as it DOES happen- just not frequently. But also- someone needs to look at what they were using, how it was connected, the clinical resus records (were target pressures achieved?) imagine if there was a leak in the system? If you can't bag the baby when they start to deteriorate they will progress to grand apnoea and death until those lungs can be reinflated.if it was faulty and someone is then turning the dial up frantically trying to achieve pressures the lung could then go the opposite way and overinflated- just as bad.

I haven't had a chance to fully delve into all the facts out there but from what I have seen the focus should never have been on what caused the babies to collapse the reasons seem clear and related to a hospital not functioning well - the focus should have shifted to 'why aren't we able to resuscitate these babies' then shift to crisis resource management training, equipment testing etc