Baby died after being mistakenly delivered five weeks prematurely
Therese and Conal Darcy-Lampf made the call after an inquest concluded their baby Jessica died, 10 days after birth, from multiple organ failure.
Dublin City Coroner Dr Brian Farrell told the grieving parents: “I hope and pray that you will be able to find strength to come to terms with what happened.”
Since losing Jessica in July 2003, the Darcy-Lampfs have become parents for a fourth time, the inquest was told.
Dr Farrell returned a narrative verdict — a recitation of medical facts indicating death from multiple organ failure.
He said sepsis [the body’s response to an infection] was “the most likely cause of the sequence of events that led to her [Jessica’s] death”. Dr Farrell noted that being born at 34 weeks was a factor of late-onset sepsis in premature babies.
After the verdict, the infant’s parents said ensuring errors in recording of dates were not repeated would be “a fitting tribute” to Jessica.
Jessica was born at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co Louth, by planned caesarian section on July 8, 2003 — five weeks and four days before her mother’s due date.
Having developed breathing difficulties, the infant was transferred to Temple Street Hospital in Dublin.
The breathing problems were followed within days by multiple-organ failure and baby Jessica died on July 18.
Dr Farrell had heard how the premature Caesarian was carried out following a mix-up over the due date.
At a previous hearing, Ms Darcy-Lampf said she noticed a member of hospital staff had written the incorrect due date in her records after she returned to her home at Dundalk Road, Carlingford, Co Louth.
The incorrect date had been calculated using the estimated date of her last period instead of the computer-generated due date provided by the ultrasound scan.
Consultant paediatrician at the Drogheda hospital Dr Siobhán Gormley said both hospitals had a working diagnosis that Jessica suffered from either a metabolic disorder or sepsis.
However, Dr Sufin Yap, metabolic specialist at Temple Street Hospital, ruled out a metabolic disorder.
Blood culture tests for sepsis were negative, but it was pointed out that this could happen because of the antibiotics given to the infant.
Dr Gormley told the inquest there was “a very definite possibility” the baby’s death was caused by sepsis.
Lawyer Seamus Noonan, for Dr Gormley, said the cause of the sepsis was not, and would never be, determined. Dr Gormley agreed.
