Forceps blamed for baby’s fracture

AN inquest has heard that a forceps used in a delivery “most probably” caused a skull fracture and bleeding in a newborn boy, who died a week later.

A paediatrician who treated the baby, Daniel McGovern, who suffered a massive bleed between his skull and scalp, said he had seen a case like it just once in his 12 years in neonatology.

A subgaleal haemorrhage (bleeding between the skull and scalp) is a very rare condition, is difficult to recognise and has a very high mortality rate, Dr Colm O’Donnell, a consultant neonatoloist at the National Maternity Hospital, told the inquest at Dublin City Coroner’s Court.