A midwife, Sarah Ladola, who was employed at The Coombe Hospital, asserted that her infant may still have been alive, if not for treatment delays whilst she was in premature labour. In January 2020, she and her spouse, Darragh Leahy, tragically lost their son Ned shortly after an emergency delivery at 31 weeks.
Relaying her experience at the Dublin District Coroner’s Court, Ms Ladola revealed details about her admission to The Coombe. She expressed initial relief, being in familiar surroundings and in capable hands at The Coombe Hospital. She found comfort knowing that Ned was stable and showed signs of good health, though he was in a breech position in the womb.
The situation, however, took a turn on January 8th. Ms Ladola began experiencing discomfort, which escalated rapidly into contractions occurring every ten minutes or less. She urged her spouse to join her at the hospital and requested a consultant review her circumstances in the evening.
However, she encountered delays before eventually being seen by her consultant, Hugh O’Connor, post 8pm. Mr. O’Connor advised an emergency Caesarean section, as deemed ideal under such circumstances. But the situation was further exacerbated with additional hold-ups in locating a hospital porter to transport Ms Ladola to the operating room and due to occupancy of operating theatres at the hospital.
The lack of available staff to manage a third theatre compounded the issue. By the time she was ready for the Caesarean section, it was already too late, leaving a vaginal birth as the final recourse.
Expressing her sentiments as well as her spouse’s, she openly discussed their belief that the outcome could have been different had the delays been eliminated. These postponements, they are of the view, obstructed the success of a Caesarean operation and may have led to their baby Ned’s death.
Mr O’Connor mentioned that Ms Ladola’s appeal for a reassessment, declared around 19:00, only reached him at 19:24. He further informed the coroner that there were no immediate signs of alarm in the delivered message. He noted that contractions occurring every eight or nine minutes could easily dissipate. He asserted his immediate action had he perceived signs of Sarah being in labour.
O’Connor further posed that a post-mortem analysis revealed an unexpected complication – partial fusion of the baby’s skull bones which must have hindered a normal delivery or usage of a forceps.
Expressing his condolences on behalf of The Coombe Hospital, Rory White BL identified a cranial abnormality, due to fused bones, as the primary causative factor since the baby’s head was stuck.
Adding to the proceedings, Dr Keane announced that she would citate a narrative verdict conforming to the presented evidence and mentioned her anticipation for the HSE’s report on pre-term women care by the National Women and Infants Health Programme.