‘It’s a total disgrace what we had to do to obtain justice’

A jury at the inquest into the death of a baby girl who died at the Regional Maternity Hospital in Limerick six years ago has returned a verdict of medical misadventure.

The verdict in relation to baby Caoimhe Mulcair, who was born to Joan and John Mulcair, from Corbally, Limerick on February 11th, 2009, but died after 39 minutes, was in line with a recommendation from coroner John McNamara.

It followed a courtroom apology from the Health Service Executive for the failings in the care provided to baby Caoimhe and the stress and pain caused to her family.

The family gave a statement following the inquest.

Full statement of John Mulcair: "We would like to take this opportunity to thank our families and friends how have helped us through a very difficult number of years. And also our very dedicated legal team at Holmes O'Malley Sexton solicitors, who gave us hope and guided us through a very long and trying legal process.

“A maternity hospital’s job is to bring precious children into the world safely. When they cannot do that, for whatever reason, the hospital has to take responsibility. This is especially so when there is confusion over the cause of death.

“The days of people being ignorant of the facts and being kept in the dark by the hospital management are over. We are bound to see many more of these tragic cases in the future if hospitals do not change their ways.

“It’s a total disgrace what we had to do to obtain justice for our innocent baby Caoimhe. The persons involved should be ashamed of themselves for putting an ordinary decent family through the pain and torment we had to endure for over six years.

“The apology we were handed yesterday, at the last possible moment, is just another example of this disregard. It doesn’t really mean anything now to me and Joan because it’s too late. We should have received an explanation and an apology six years ago. We wouldn’t be here today if we had.

“A full and open disclosure and a legal obligation on the HSE staff to explain what happened in catastrophic outcomes is what we want to see in the future. It would make it easier for everyone involved particularly us who have lost our baby Caoimhe. The HSE must start to learn from its mistakes.

“We hope our little baby Caoimhe may now be able to rest in peace and we hope she knows that we have done everything we possibly could for her.”