‘No red flags’ for breech birth mother says midwife

A midwife insisted there were “no red flags” when a pregnant woman was examined the day before going into labour with an undiagnosed breech baby who later died, an inquiry heard.

Mirabelle Bosch died aged just 12 hours on July 2 2021 at Wishaw General Hospital when life support was withdrawn after she suffered a hypoxic brain injury during a home birth and there was a delay taking her mother, Rozelle Bosch, 31, to hospital.

A fatal accident inquiry into her death will also examine the deaths of two other newborns in NHS Lanarkshire hospitals: Ellie Mccormick, who died at the same hospital aged just five hours on March 5 2019, and Leo Lamont, who died at two hours old in University Hospital, Monklands, on February 15 2019.

Medics believed Mirabelle was head-down in a “low risk” pregnancy. However, she was actually in breech, which would require a management plan for a a hospital birth due to head injury risks for the baby. A 31-week scan identified Mirabelle was in breech but a midwife gave evidence and said this was not a cause of concern at that time.

First-time mother Mrs Bosch had no concerns during her pregnancy and Mi ra belle appeared healthy, but when labour began, her feet emerged rather than her head, which became “entrapped”, causing her death, the inquiry heard.

On June 30, midwife Michelle Tannahill examined Mrs Bosch and she l told the inquiry at Glasgow Sheriff Court a vaginal examination could “possibly” have found the baby was in breech but would have been avoided due to the risk of infection. She said: “There wasn’t any red flags, there wasn’t anything that was alarming.”

The inquiry before Sheriff Principal Aisha Anwar continues.