GARDAI in Swinford, Co Mayo, have confirmed that they are investigating the circumstances surrounding the birth of a stillborn infant at home the morning after its mother had been discharged from hospital.
The woman, who was within two weeks of her due date, was admitted to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar with pain on October 26th during the national nurses' strike. She was released the following day. She went into labour at home and gave birth to a stillborn child in the early hours of October 28th.
The Western Health Board said yesterday that it was not conducting a separate investigation into the incident, as such situations were normally a matter for the gardai. However, the board said it was co-operating fully with the gardai and the coroner. The matter was sub-judice, pending a coroner's inquest, a health board spokeswoman said.
Mr Michael Kilcoyne, member of Castlebar Urban District Council and branch secretary of SIPTU, said he wished to sympathise with the woman and members of her family. However, it would not have been up to a nurse to make the diagnosis, and so it could not be attributed in any way to the industrial action, he said. If the woman had not been released from hospital, she would have been given full nursing care under the emergency strike cover agreement, he said.