Pregnant woman died due to tear in abdominal aorta, inquest told

A 35-year-old pregnant woman died due to a tear in the abdominal aorta during the course of laparoscopic surgery for an ectopic pregnancy, an inquest has heard.

Malak Kuzbary Thawley of Brusna Cottages, Blackrock, Co Dublin died on May 8th 2016 at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Dublin.

A short inquest into the woman's death opened at Dublin Coroner's Court before Coroner Dr Myra Cullinan on Tuesday . The woman's husband, Alan Thawley was not present in court but was represented by Senior Counsel Liam Reidy. Dr Rhona Mahony, Master of the National Maternity Hospital, sat in the public gallery.

Ms Thawley, a teacher originally from Syria, was expecting her first baby. She was seven weeks pregnant when a scan identified an ectopic pregnancy.

The inquest heard that Dr Charles Goh identified the woman's body to Garda James Verner of Pearse St Garda Station on May 9th 2016. A postmortem was carried out the following day by Consultant Pathologist Dr Thomas Crotty at St Vincent's Hospital.

Dr Crotty gave the cause of death as a tear in the abdominal aorta during the course of laparoscopic therapy due to an ectopic pregnancy in the right fallopian tube, the inquest heard.

Internal inquiry

The court heard that an internal inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death was commenced by the hospital in early June and is ongoing.

Mr Reidy said the stated purpose of this internal inquiry was to establish the facts, identify “systems failures” within the hospital and make recommendations to prevent any identifiable future risk.

“The report is now at draft final stage,” Mr Reidy said. He said Mr Thawley has requested all documentation from the hospital that the inquiry has generated to date but this had been refused.

“We have been denied access to that,” Mr Reidy said. He asked that all information submitted to the Coroner’s Court in relation to the case be made available to his client.

Barrister Simon Mills, for the hospital, said he did not accept "that characterisation of matters."

“The investigation is ongoing,” Mr Mills said.

Adjourning the inquest for further mention until October 24th, the coroner conveyed her condolences to Mr Thawley.