‘We are devastated and will never be the same’, says mother of baby who suffered brain damage during birth

Warning signs were missed and there had been a series of communication failings in a labour ward in the hours before a baby suffered catastrophic brain damage during birth.

Dr John Bermingham, a consultant obstetrician gynaecologist at University Hospital Waterford (UHW), told Cork City Coroner’s Court yesterday while he was not on duty on October 17 last year, when first-time mother Krystle Hunt presented at the ward, it was clear to him she was not attended to properly by the on-call registrar.

When she presented at 11pm, Ms Hunt had sepsis, a strep B infection — present in 25% of all pregnancies — and a raised temperature. But it was 6.30am the next day before she was rushed to theatre for an emergency C-Section.