Maternity death law to2018 make inquests a right
Campaigners rejoice as Bill for automatic hearings to become law
FAMILIES who have spent years fighting for inquests into maternal deaths say they are relieved future generations will not suffer as they have.
The Cabinet this week committed to implementing the Coroner’s (Amendment) Bill 2016 which will provide automatic inquests into maternal deaths and is expected to be passed after the summer.
The legislation will also give coroners the power to enter and inspect premises, take copies or possession of evidence, and sanction unco-operative witnesses.
The proposals follow advice from Attorney General Séamus Woulfe, who said the current flaws in the law may contravene Ireland’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Bill’s journey has been arduous for fathers such as Seán Rowlette whose wife Sally died on February 5, 2013, aged 35, a day after giving birth to her daughter of the same name.
She suffered a massive brain haemorrhage after it was claimed that staff at Sligo General Hospital did not properly manage her HELLP Syndrome, a severe form of pre-eclampsia.
Before she passed away, Sally held her newborn in her arms and told Seán: ‘At least I have my redhaired baby now.’ Hours later, he was left to grieve and care for his children Leanne, Joseph, Abbey and newborn Sally.
Seán had met Leo Varadkar when he was Health Minister, and presented him with an emotive letter from his children.
It read: ‘To Minister Leo Varadkar: We miss our mum so much every day. Can you please make sure this will never happen to any other mum again and make our hospitals safe?
‘Signed Leanne, 9, Abbey, 7, Joseph, 4, and baby Sally, 2.’
Their father spent over a year seeking an inquest into his wife’s death and it wasn’t until 2015, two years after her death, that a verdict was returned to the family at Sligo Court citing medical misadventure as the cause of death.
‘It was so much stress,’ Seán told the Irish Mail on Sunday. ‘I spent around 16 months trying to get an inquest for my wife while having four kids on my hands.
‘I knew that if I walked away I wouldn’t have got any of the answers and we needed answers. It’s just hard. If I didn’t fight for answers, we’d have nothing. At least when they get older you can tell them what did happen to their mam and explain everything.
‘I always said I’d do whatever I can to help push this [Bill] through. I really thought it would be over the line by now, I didn’t think it would take this long but we’ll keep trying until it is so this doesn’t happen to any other families.’
Latest figures show there were 27 maternal deaths between 2011 and 2013, but only three were the subject of an inquest.
Last Wednesday, the Cabinet discussed the Bill which has been championed by Independent TD Clare Daly, and the Elephant Collective, which represents people affected by maternal deaths.
Ms Daly told the MoS: ‘It is an incredible testament to the wonderful midwives and activists in the Elephant Collective, especially the bereaved husbands and families of women who lost their lives in childbirth in Ireland over the past number of years, that we have finally got to this point.
‘No more will families have to fight a battle for an inquest, it will now be granted automatically.’
‘I knew if I walked away I wouldn’t get answers’