At least 38 baby deaths in nine years after serious incidents in Irish maternity units
10 Same Babies Died, 2018 The Them A Month Least Dublin Three Of At At In Five In Hospital Period
At least 38 babies died in the space of nine years after serious incidents in the country’s maternity units, it has emerged.
The total is based on research of both media reports of inquests and settled claims.
Before Christmas, a review by the revealed 21 hospital baby deaths followed one or more serious incidents, between 2013 and 2021.
However, further study in the same nine-year period shows the toll to be higher. The worst year was 2018, when not only did at least 10 babies die, but three of them died at the same Dublin hospital over a five-month period.
In at least 18 of the 38 deaths, issues around foetal heartbeat monitoring (CTG) were raised either at inquest or in the High Court.
At least 18 of the inquests resulted in a verdict of medical misadventure.
As well as issues around heart monitoring, the review shows that in at least seven of the 38 cases, maternity staff missed signs that a woman was in labour, leading to repeated recommendations around training.
Some 12 deaths followed a delayed delivery, while the alleged lack of availability of a consultant also featured in at least seven cases.
In at least seven cases, mothers’ concerns were ignored.
Investigations into four deaths at the Midland Regional Hospital Portlaoise between 2006 and 2012 led to major maternity care reforms, including the National Maternity Strategy.
The survey of 38 serious-incident hospital baby deaths points to at least four different sets of baby deaths at four different hospitals between 2013 and 2021.
In two of those sets of deaths, there were five deaths over a period of between seven and eight years at two different Dublin hospitals.
Health Minister Stephen Donnelly was asked on December 21 whether or not he would conduct a look-back review over the 21 deaths initially identified by the .
He told RTÉ: “The advice I have over the 21 baby deaths where there was a coroner’s inquest is that there has been no trend identified in terms of baby heart monitoring.”
His department later said the the minister had asked HSE officials to meet with Safer Births Ireland to discuss their issues, “including those in relation to CTG monitoring”.
Safer Births Ireland has called on the minister to clarify exactly how he knows “no trend” in baby heart monitoring in baby deaths since 2013 has been identified.
Co-founder Lisa Duffy, whose baby son Luke was stillborn at Portlaoise Hospital on October 29, 2018, said: “If issues around CTG monitoring feature in around half the 38 maternity-unit baby deaths identified by the , how is that not a trend?
“Issues around CTG monitoring also appear to be a trend in medical negligence cases where babies were left injured."
When the new figure was put to the HSE it said there has been a downward trend in total perinatal deaths since 2008 and that every "adverse event" "undergoes a review appropriate to the nature of the case, in line with the HSE’s Incident Management Framework".