Verdict of medical misadventure in death of eight-day-old boy

A verdict of medical misadventure was returned on Wednesday at an inquest into the death of an eight-day-old boy who suffered oxygen deprivation at critically low levels during his birth at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda.

The inquest in Dundalk Coroner's Court heard Killian Lally Doyle had been in the breech position, but this was not diagnosed until his mother Kim was in an advanced stage of labour.

When it was diagnosed, she had an emergency caesarean section.

A postmortem concluded Killian had died of intrapartum hypoxia or oxygen deprivation, which caused multi-organ injury including brain damage.

The oxygen deprivation was due to compression of the umbilical cord, associated with hyper coiling of the cord, perinatal pathologist Dr John Gillan said.

Balance of probability

Earlier in the inquest, Dr Joseph O’Quigley, obstetrician at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, acknowledged that on the balance of probability it was more likely the baby was in breech position when his mother arrived at the hospital and there was little doubt the umbilical cord was compressed during birth.

He believed the cord was compressed as the baby’s body descended into the birth canal.

The inquest also heard that once the second stage of labour had started, the foetal heart rate should have been monitored every five minutes and emergency monitoring should have been continuous, but that this was not done.

Killian was born on May 20th, 2013, and an MRI found no evidence of brain injury occurring before labour.

No genetic abnormalities

He had no genetic abnormalities and Roger Murray, solicitor for Killian's family, told the inquest there were abundant signs the incident occurred during labour.

Speaking after the inquest, the baby's mother Kim, of Prospect, Naul Road, Balbriggan, Co Dublin, said, "We are satisfied with today's outcome. We feel fully vindicated and really hope lessons have been learnt ."