An inquest has been held over the death of Jared McDowall, who died at St Michael’s Hospital in Bristol in January 2012, two days after being born by caesarean section.
The inquest heard from Natasha McDowell, Jared’s mother, who said midwives dismissed her as “paranoid” just hours before her son’s death. Mrs McDowall, from Longwell Green in Bristol, described how her newborn baby was reluctant to feed and was crying unusually.
She was “sick with worry” but upon relating her fears to midwives was treated as “an anxious new mum”. Hours later she found her son lifeless in his cot. Resuscitation attempts failed and he was pronounced dead.
An investigation into Jared’s care was subsequently carried out. This identified four failings, including staff not recognising poor feeding and unusual crying. Observation charts at the hospital now feature ‘unusual crying’ as part of a neo-natal checklist.
Despite these failings, coroner Maria Voisin returned a narrative verdict, saying there was no evidence of “gross failures”. She also said it was not possible to ascertain a precise cause of death, but it is thought Jared may have been hypoglycaemic.
Mrs McDowall told the inquest: “I feel completely let down by the medical professionals at St Michael’s Hospital, particularly the midwifery team who failed to listen to my concerns.”
Southmead Hospital
The case has similarities to another recent inquest, also recently heard at Avon Coroner’s Court.
The inquest heard how Oliver Hannon died at Southmead Hospital in August 2012, two weeks after having been born prematurely. He died from the superbug Pseudomonas aeruginos. The source of the infection could not be traced.
His parents told the court they were concerned about hygiene standards at the hospital’s neo-natal intensive care unit. Jenna Hannon, Oliver’s mother, said: “I would see some nurses going from one baby to another without even washing their hands, or using hand gel, and no gloves.”
“It doesn’t seem to be adequate, the fact that us as parents are being told to wash our hands and they’re, ‘look, we’ll do this’. That’s how you get infections through to a baby – they’re in an incubator for a reason.”
During the eight days Oliver was in intensive care, three other babies were being treated for the same infection, albeit a different strain to the one Oliver contracted. An investigation was carried out and procedures at Southmead Hospital have since been altered.
Because the source of the infection was unknown, the coroner recorded a narrative verdict.
Neo-natal deaths
If your newborn baby has been injured or has died because of negligent obstetric care, do not hesitate to get in touch with us. We understand that while nothing could ever undo the terrible trauma you and your family have experienced, you may want to take some sort of legal action against the hospital responsible as this will at least help to ensure it does not happen again.
Share Article With:
|
|
|
|
|
|
