Settlement of €650k for woman’s death in childbirth
THE husband and son of a woman who died at the National Maternity Hospital after undergoing an emergency caesarean section to deliver her baby have settled their High Court action for €650,000.
Stephen Hyland, of Portmarnock in Dublin, took a High Court action against the NMH claiming the death of his wife Nora left him suffering from severe and profound nervous shock, upset, and mental distress.
The National Maternity Hospital denied these claims.
Nora Hyland, 31, who was originally from Malaysia, died while undergoing a C-section to deliver her son Frederick at the hospital in February 2012, RTÉ reported.
The baby, the couple’s first child who was named Frederick, was delivered successfully but shortly after, Ms Hyland began to lose blood.
An inquest into Ms Hyland’s death was launched in 2014 which ruled her death was as a result of medical misadventure.
The inquest heard that after her baby’s delivery, when Mrs Hyland began to lose blood, requests for blood for a transfusion were made in the operating theatre just after midnight but the actual transfusion didn’t take place until 12.45am.
The inquest heard that the delay in the transfusions was the result of a labelling error in the laboratory.
There was no O-negative, the universal donor blood type, kept in the operating theatres of the NMH at the time.
After doctors controlled the bleeding, Ms Hyland suffered a sudden and unexpected cardiac arrest and was pronounced dead just over an hour later.
The inquest also heard Mrs Hyland had been given a dose of Syntometrine – used to help induce labour – that was three times higher than World Health Organisation guidelines, it was reported.
In his verdict at the inquest, Dublin Coroner Dr Brian Farrell said that Mrs Hyland died as a result of ‘pulseless electrical activity cardiac arrest secondary to a severe primary post-partum haemorrhage’.
However he could not say if the delay in Mrs Hyland received a blood transfusion was a definite factor in her death.
Dr Farrell also requested, without prejudice to the National Maternity Hospital, that the hospital authorities review protocols and other issues that rose out of the inquest in relation to the blood-bank management.
In court yesterday, Judge Kevin Cross approved the settlement and sympathised with Mr Hyland and his family for their loss.
Lawyers for Mr Hyland told the court that the settlement was being made without an admission of liability.
They also said that Mr Hyland was satisfied with the settlement but was unable to attend court as he was too upset.
‘Sudden cardiac arrest’