Inquest into deaths of mother and newborn baby at Cork maternity hospital

It’s believed that Marie Downey may have suffered a seizure while breastfeeding her son Darragh.

Tragically, Marie Downey, was found unresponsive just hours before she was due to be discharged home to be with her husband, Kieran, and her two older sons, James and Sean.

An inquest opened this morning into the tragic deaths of a mother and her newborn baby boy at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) just over two years ago.

Marie Downey, 36, from Knockanevin near Kildorrery in north Cork, and who had a history of epilepsy, was found unresponsive and lying partly out of her hospital bed, with four-day-old baby Darragh lying underneath her, early in the morning of March 25, 2019.