A BABY girl was born with head injuries due to complications during her delivery at a Dublin maternity hospital, an inquest has heard.
Isabelle McDonagh, Dun Emer Avenue, Lusk, Co Dublin was pronounced dead at the Rotunda Hospital on August 21st, 2009, following her birth by Caesarean section the previous day.
An inquest heard yesterday that during the Caesarean section on August 20th, the baby’s skull was found to be deep in the pelvis and there was difficulty in accessing and dislodging the head.
Two unsuccessful attempts were made to deliver the baby before her birth at 7.35am, according to a statement by midwife Shereen Jones, who was not at the inquest. The baby’s condition at birth was very poor.
Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard there was a delay in getting the baby’s mother to theatre because the hospital was busy.
There was also a delay in getting surgery under way as the anaesthetist was busy in the delivery suite.
During the procedure, obstetric registrar Dr Andrena Paul asked the midwife for pressure to be applied to dislodge the baby’s head.
A student midwife first applied pressure while Dr Paul attempted to deliver the baby unsuccessfully, and after a few seconds Ms Jones took over from the student, Ms Jones said in her statement.
The master of the hospital and the consultant on call were contacted as was a senior registrar.
Melissa McDonagh, the baby’s mother, had been administered the hormone oxytocin at 4.45am, due to a clear lack of progress in labour.
A decision was made by the obstetric registrar that if no significant progress was made within the hour, a Caesarean section would be performed.
Dr Paul returned to review Ms McDonagh at 6.10am, which was later than planned due to high levels of activity on the delivery suite and because a patient had presented at AE who potentially needed a Caesarean section.
A decision was made then to carry out the surgical procedure following consultation with the consultant on call.
Dr Paul said it was a “very busy evening”.
Coroner Dr Brian Farrell recorded a cause of death of cranial and cerebral trauma as a result of failure to progress and difficulty with extracting the baby by Caesarean section.
He said he was satisfied the head injuries found at postmortem were birth injuries.
The failure to progress and the head (being) deep in the pelvis at Caesarean section explained the cerebral trauma at birth, Dr Farrell said. “This is a complication of the delivery,” he added.
The baby was a good size and had no other health problems.
He recorded a verdict of death by medical misadventure.
Dr Farrell told the baby’s parents, Melissa and Gerard McDonagh he was sorry to hear of their daughter’s death.
“This has been a devastating loss to you,” he said.