PLEASE GOD THIS BABY DIDN’T DIE NEEDLESSLY TOO
Parents who blew whistle on Portlaoise react to the latest child fatality
ANOTHER baby has died at the controversial Midlands Regional Hospital in the past few days, the HSE c onfi r med last night.
The infant passed away in the maternity unit of the Portlaoise hospital on Saturday and follows shock findings into the needless deaths of four babies at the hospital.
Parents Mark and Róisín Molloy, who were left battling the system for two years to find out the truth about why their son Mark Jr had died at the hospital, last night said they hoped ‘this is not another avoidable baby death’.
An incident response policy by the
HSE is now under way into the latest tragedy at the hospital.
Saturday’s death comes after a damning report by the Department of Health chief medical officer Tony Holohan was published late last month.
In it, he examined the birth deaths of four babies and warned that the maternity service at Portlaoise Hospital cannot be regarded as safe and sustainable within its current governance arrangements.
Last night Mrs Molloy, whose baby son Mark Jr died needlessly at the hospital, last night told the Irish Daily Mail that the latest death of a baby at Portlaoise brought back the pain of losing their son.
‘ Hearing about a baby dying brought me right back to losing our son,’ she said. ‘I am so upset about it – I know what that baby’s poor family are going through.
‘The circumstances of the baby’s death are not known, it could have been a natural death, please God it is not another avoidable death.
‘I just thank God we went public with what happened to us and there are recommendations in place.’ Dr Holohan’s report, carried out following the death of four babies at the hospital over a six-year period, also found that families and patients were treated in a poor and attimes appalling manner – with limited respect, kindness, courtesy and consideration.
The coroner has requested that a post- mortem examination take place to determine the cause of the latest death of a baby in Portlaoise Hospital. This is now in progress.
In a statement last night, a HSE spokesman admitted another family had lost a baby at the weekend.
She said: ‘The HSE can confirm a perinatal death took place at Portlaoise Hospital on Saturday, March 8. The HSE offers its condolences to the family at this tragic time.’
The latest infant tragedy comes in the wake of a recent investigation following the death of four babies at Portlaoise Hospital which were exposed on RTÉ’s Prime Time programme Fatal Failures.
The deaths were subject to internal reviews by the HSE, yet managers at Portlaoise failed to implement changes that could have prevented more needless deaths, Dr Holohan’s report found. None of the families were told their babies’ deaths were avoidable until they sought answers from the hospital and the HSE. If it were to emerge the latest death was preventable it is bound to raise questions about if the maternity unit should have been shut down immediately when it was discovered it was unsafe under the current governance arrangements.
Speaking after the publication of the report into the deaths of four infants in the unit between 2007 and 2012, Health Minister James Reilly said he was shocked by the events at Portlaoise and pledged the recommendations of the report would be implemented.
It was announced last week that the Health Information and Quality Authority will be conducting a full investigation into the standards of patient care across the hospital.
The HSE confirmed last night that an ‘Incident Management Policy’ is being followed in the latest death.
This i s effectively a detailed response which medics must now follow to ensure appropriate care is given to finding out the causes of death and that those affected are dealt with sensitively.