AN EXPERT in obstetrics and gynaecology has told an inquest into the death of an infant boy, who was stillborn when he was delivered by emergency Caesarean section following a car crash, that he believes the operation should have been carried out hours earlier.
Prof Michael Turner, UCD professor of obstetrics and gynaecology, told an inquest in Castlebar, Co Mayo, yesterday that if the Caesarean section on Andrew James Niland, whose parents live at Agloragh, Ballyhaunis, Co Mayo, had been carried out sooner, the stillbirth would have been prevented.
The infant’s mother, Lorna Niland (37) was almost 32 weeks pregnant in October 2009 when the car she was driving was involved in a head-on collision with another car near her home.
She was admitted by ambulance to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar complaining of abdominal pain.
She had not felt foetal movements since the incident.
The mother of seven was admitted to the hospital at 12.45pm on October 25th. A decision was made at 4.50pm on the same day to carry out an emergency Caesarean section.
On the second day of the inquest yesterday, Prof Turner said he felt “the standard of her [Ms Niland’s] care in the maternity department that afternoon was below what I would expect”.
Responding to Rita Kilroy, for the Niland family, Prof Turner said there was evidence of decelerations and placental abruption.
In hindsight, he added, it might have been wiser to deliver the baby boy by Caesarean section earlier.
The professor pointed out, however, that the earlier surgery did not guarantee a perfect outcome.
There was a possibility, Prof Turner said, that the baby would have survived normally and gone on to lead a normal life.
Cross-examined by Declan Buckley SC, for the Health Service Executive and Mayo General, Prof Turner agreed that placental separation was an extremely difficult diagnosis to make.
He agreed a decision had been made in good faith not to intervene by carrying out a section earlier.
Dr Malcolm Little, the retired consultant pathologist who had carried out a postmortem examination, gave the cause of death as “fresh stillbirth with evidence of intrauterine asphyxia. Umbilical cord around the neck with minor placental tear. Mother involved in a road traffic accident.”
The inquest will resume this morning when the jury will retire to consider its verdict.