Baby ‘could have been saved’ after water birth
A BABY girl who died hours after a water birth at a midwife-led unit could have been saved if support had been available sooner, an inquiry heard yesterday.
Nevaeh Stewart died three-anda-half hours after she was born at Montrose Royal Infirmary’s community midwife unit, in Angus, on September 30, 2012.
The Fatal Accident Inquiry into her death was told yesterday that water births are ‘experimental’ and also that earlier intervention might have ‘altered the outcome’.
Dr Peter Fowlie, a consultant paediatrician and regional director of neonatal transport for NHS Tayside, was giving evidence at Forfar Sheriff Court, having compiled a report on the baby’s care. Nevaeh’s father, Gary Stewart, 30, of Auchenblae, Aberdeenshire, earlier described the unit as an ‘emergency response blackspot’.
That was after notes made by midwives showed they had noted a neonatal transport team as being ‘en-route’ from Ninewells Hospital, in Dundee, at 5.40am – but it did not arrive until 7.15am.
Nevaeh’s mother Kimberley, 31, previously told the inquiry that she had gone into labour at her home on September 29, 2012. She went to the maternity unit in Montrose – staffed only by midwives, with no doctors on hand – where she gave birth in a pool the following morning.
Nevaeh, the family’s fourth child, was said to be pale and was immediately rushed into another room for treatment. Speaking directly of Nevaeh’s death, Dr Fowlie said: ‘It is possible that earlier intervention might have altered the outcome.
‘If support had been available sooner, it is possible. But there are babies who are unexpectedly born in a compromised state across the UK and a small number of them, even if they were born in a facility with a neo-natal unit, would die.’
He told the inquiry that health boards do not have the resources to ensure a ‘flying squad’ of medics can rush to midwife units in an emergency and said ‘it is possible’ that earlier intervention by specialist doctors may have saved Nevaeh’s life.
Agreeing that a water birth should be considered an experimental procedure, Dr Fowlie said: ‘The debate still exists about whether it is safe for baby to be delivered in water.
‘There is a reasonable body of evidence to suggest that labouring in water is potentially helpful to the mother. The evidence about delivering in water is still uncertain.’
The inquiry, before Sheriff Pino di Emidio, continues.
‘Evidence is still uncertain’