HSE to commission second review into baby’s death
Jamie Flynn of Tara Court Square, Navan, in Co Meath, was born shortly before midnight on November 22, 2012, in very poor condition. He was transferred to the Rotunda Hospital where he died in his mother’s arms two days later.
An inquest into his death in June this year heard allegations from consultant obstetrician Dr Salah Abdel-Aziz that he had delayed an emergency caesarean section due to the unavailability of nursing staff for the operating theatre at the time.
The HSE commissioned a report into the tragedy, carried out by a team from Dublin’s National Maternity Hospital and that report was given to Jamie’s parents, Francis Flynn and Fiona Watters, in August.
However, Dr Abdel-Aziz was granted a High Court order permanently restraining the HSE from publishing the report into the investigation and quashing the report, its findings and recommendations. The doctor had argued the HSE had not followed fair procedures in relation to the report and he was vindicated by a High Court ruling in September.
The HSE then agreed to a new inquiry by a different legal team.
Yesterday Sinn Féin health spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said it was unacceptable that Jamie’s parents were still waiting for closure and that the delays they had faced were “inordinate”.
“I can only imagine how his distraught parents must feel that after all this time there is still no finality,” said the Cavan/Monaghan TD.
It was particularly worrying that none of the report’s recommendations had been implemented given there had been two further deaths of newborns at Cavan General in April and May of this year, which were also the subject of investigations, Mr Ó Caoláin said.
“If those recommendations stood up to scrutiny, if they warrant implementing in the interest of patient safety, then it’s unacceptable that that has not been done,” he said.
