CUMH doctor admits baby would have been born alive with an earlier intervention 

Inquest told failures were admitted to at meeting with Emma Cosgrove, whose son Kyle was born and declared dead about 40 minutes later in September 2020

Kevin Dixon and Emma Cosgrove holding a picture of their son Kyle Dixon, with their solicitor Amy Langan after the inquest. Picture: Eddie O'Hare

An obstetrician at Cork University Maternity Hospital has admitted an “earlier intervention” into what was repeatedly flagged as a high-risk pregnancy would have meant a baby would have been "born alive", an inquest has heard.

The inquest was told failures were admitted to by CUMH at a meeting with Emma Cosgrove, whose son Kyle was born and declared dead about 40 minutes later at 2.45pm on September 9, 2020.

Some of those failures, for which the inquest heard CUMH have since apologised, included a failure by some staff to recognise a critical trace result from the Cardiotocography (CTG) used to monitor Kyle’s heartbeat and Ms Cosgrove’s contractions during her pregnancy and labour.

The inquest before Cork City coroner Philip Comyn also heard a member of staff who tried to save him said he gave just “one weak agonal gasp” and was born in “very poor condition”.

Ms Cosgrove, 40  recalled being told later that her son “had to have been struggling for a long time”.

Under cross-examination by senior counsel Sara Antoniotti, she said she was told this at the meeting with senior CUMH staff months after Kyle died.

“They informed me they were very sorry that failures had occurred during my son’s delivery,” she told Ms Antoniotti.

Consultant Obstetrician Keelin O’Donoghue admitted under cross-examination from Ms Antoniotti that had there been an “earlier intervention” into what was repeatedly flagged as being a high-risk pregnancy due to Ms Cosgrove’s history of chronic hypertension, Kyle “would have been born alive” to her and her husband Kevin.

Kevin Dixon and Emma Cosgrove holding a picture of their son Kyle Dixon. Picture; Eddie O'Hare

Ms Cosgrove, a mother of two who had suffered four miscarriages before she became pregnant with Kyle said she found the sound of her baby being resuscitated so disturbing she begged to be allowed to leave the operating theatre.

Ms Cosgrove, from Ballincollig, Co Cork, recalled: “I remember people trying to calm me down on the table. Kevin was brought into the room just as Kyle was being born. He was not lifted onto my chest, he was taken immediately to the side so I did not see him.

“We heard the doctors being called. We could hear them performing counts for resuscitation and there was no crying.

“We heard one single sound come from Kyle like a gasp which we thought was him starting to breathe but there was no more sound from our baby.

“I begged doctors to get me out of the room as I could not cope with listening to what they were saying anymore.

“I was trying not to look at what was happening and could not cope with hearing them say he was dead.” 

Recording a verdict of medical misadventure, the Cork City Coroner pointed out it ”was not a finding of fault”.

In a statement read for them by Ms Langan, the couple said: “There were multiple failings. If our baby had been delivered earlier, he would have been with us today."

They said it was a nightmare "that will always stay with us and haunts us daily".

“The loss of our precious child has left us decimated and our lives have been changed forever.”