A THREE-month-old baby boy who was rushed to hospital after being found lying motionless in bed died of a brain injury with extensive haemorrhage two days later, an inquest heard yesterday.
Lorcan Patrick Rooney of The Ballagh Cove, The Ballagh, Co Wexford, was rushed to Wexford General Hospital on the morning of January 23rd, 2007, after his mother's partner, John Rooney, found the infant lying unresponsive in bed beside him, Dublin City Coroner's Court heard.
Mr Rooney, who had been up for most of the previous night looking after Lorcan, who wasn't well, told the inquest he had fallen back to sleep after the baby's mother, Anne Marie Smith, went to town around 9.30am. He woke an hour later and found the baby with his eyes half-open. He wasn't breathing, he told the court.
"I picked him up. I did shake him because I noticed there was no movement. I don't recall whether it was a hard shake," he told the coroner, Dr Brian Farrell.
Mr Rooney attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and contacted the emergency services.
Anne-Marie Smith gave evidence yesterday that the day before her baby son was rushed to hospital, he had been hit on the head with a baby's bottle by the 1½-year-old daughter of a neighbour and had experienced a "fit" later that evening at home.
He was quieter than usual the following morning, when she got up around 8am, she said.
Upon arrival at Wexford General Hospital the baby was unresponsive and his pupils were fixed and dilated, suggestive of brain damage. Staff managed to get a heartbeat and he was intubated, ventilated and transferred to Temple Street children's hospital, Dublin, where he died on January 25th.
Professor of paediatrics and consultant paediatrician at Temple Street children's hospital Prof Denis Gill told the court an MRI showed extensive brain death, which was believed to have arisen in the last 24 hours. He saw blood at the back of both of the baby's eyes, or retinal haemorrhage, which meant there had been significant brain injury. The subdural and retinal haemorrhages were most likely due to trauma, he said.
Blood at the back of the eyes is one feature of so-called shaken baby syndrome, the inquest heard.
He told the court that in his opinion, "a bang from a plastic bottle is totally irrelevant".
A postmortem by State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy found the baby died of brain injury and brain haemorrhage (subdural and subarachnoid haemorrhage) and also had retinal haemorrhages.
She agreed with the coroner Dr Farrell that the "most likely explanation was trauma, but the nature of the trauma was the question".
"It cannot be excluded that this child had been injured, ie shaken with or without impact to the head, resulting in both the intracranial and intra-orbital haemorrhages, and the brain injury leading to his death. Nor can it be excluded that such trauma may have occurred on a previous occasion," she said.
She said striking of a baby's head with a plastic bottle would not cause a subdural haemorrhage in a normal healthy child.
Gardaí began a criminal investigation following the incident and a file was submitted to the DPP, Sgt Mick Morrissey said. At a previous "for mention" hearing of the inquest, it was stated the DPP had directed no prosecutions in the case.
Sheila Nolan, mother of the toddler who allegedly struck the baby on the head with her bottle, said she did not notice any such incident, but she told the coroner Ms Smith had told her at the time her daughter had hit Lorcan.
The coroner adjourned the inquest to a date next week.