Hospital ‘didn’t tell us they had stuffed up’
It’s been two years since her twins’ premature birth in Hutt Hospital, and mum Helen Johnson still doesn’t have answers.
She knows that her daughter, Piper, had a brain hemorrhage at birth. She knows that Piper did not receive proper resuscitation in the crucial first minutes of life, as untrained staff struggled to operate life-saving equipment that had not been turned on.
But Johnson says she is still being kept in the dark by Hutt Hospital, who have not provided her medical records or reassurance that other babies will not be harmed.
‘‘I had nothing explained to me when the twins were born, nothing. It didn’t really make sense – they just told us there had been an incident at birth and that Piper might never be able to walk, basically. They didn’t tell us they had stuffed up,’’ Johnson says.
Two years later, an ACC inquiry has found the hospital’s actions contributed towards Piper’s brain damage. Johnson is now pursuing a Health and Disability Commissioner complaint.
Piper is a bubbly, happy twoyear-old. She also lives with cerebral palsy, caused by oxygen depletion in the minutes after her birth. But the doctors were wrong – Piper can walk. Though when she’s tired, it’s tough, and when she tries to run after her twin sister, Eva, she’ll often lose her balance. It’s too early to know what the full effects of the disorder, which affects body movement and muscle coordination, will be.
Johnson’s story comes as a separate report into newborn brain injury, details of which have been obtained under the Official Information Act, suggests up to 66 per cent of cases could be prevented.
Neonatal Encephalopathy (NE) is a birth injury caused by lack of oxygen or blood flow at or near the time of birth. It happens in around 1.29 of 1000 live births, usually at full term, and is a major cause of brain damage.
The ACC-funded report, conducted by the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee into 47 cases of NE in 2016 and 2017, found there would likely have been a better outcome for two-thirds of the babies if different care was given.
It is the most recent report into NE and suggests care plays a bigger part than initially thought – with earlier studies saying 52-55 per cent of cases could have been prevented.
The full report is due for publication in June.
While NE affects a relatively small number of babies, the impact can be devastating. It’s also costly. When the injury is caused by treatment, ACC provides cover for the life of the child at a cost of between $6-12 million.
They are the most expensive claims in the ACC scheme, with the total cost of the current 233 accepted claims estimated at $3.9 billion, documents show.
The rate of brain damage in full term babies has not declined significantly since 2010.
Hutt Valley District Health Board declined to answer any questions about Piper’s birth or general questions about whether Hutt Hospital was equipped to deal with the emergency births of premature babies.