Baby died from head injuries after caesarean

A BABY girl was born with head injuries due to complications of her delivery at a Dublin maternity hospital, an inquest has heard.

Baby Isabelle McDonagh of Dun Emer Avenue, Lusk, Co Dublin, was pronounced dead at the Rotunda Hospital on August 21, 2009, following her birth by caesarean section the previous day.

An inquest heard yesterday that during the c-section on August 20 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.

Baby Isabelle’s condition at birth was very poor.

Dublin City Coroner’s Court heard there was a delay in getting the baby’s mother Melissa to theatre due to “high activity levels”.

There was also a delay in commencing surgery 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 applied pressure while Dr Paul attempted to deliver the baby unsuccessfully and after a few seconds Shereen 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 oxytocin at 4.45am due to a lack of progress in labour and a decision was made by the obstetric registrar that if no significant progress was made within the hour a c-section would be performed.

Dr Paul returned to review Ms McDonagh at 6.10am, later than planned due to high levels of activity on the delivery suite.&

A decision was then made to carry out the surgical procedure following consultation with the consultant on-call. Dr Paul said it was a “very busy evening”.

The coroner recorded a cause of death of cranial and cerebral trauma as a result of failure to progress and difficulty with extracting the baby at caesarean section.

He said he was satisfied the head injuries found at autopsy were birth injuries.

The baby was a good size and had no other health problems and he recorded a verdict of death by medical misadventure.

The coroner extended his condolences to the baby’s parents, Melissa and Gerard McDonagh.