Mum lives with ‘guilt’ of not asking for second opinion

BEREFT Family felt ‘something wasn’t right’

A Cavan family hope Cavan General Hospital will learn from what happened after their baby was delivered stillborn almost five years ago.

In a statement issued to The Anglo-Celt, Paula and Jonathan Doyle say they knew “something wasn’t right” with their beloved baby Tadhg in utero prior to the confirmation of the tragic outcome in June 2016.

The couple had flagged as much and attended the hospital to raise concern over reduced foetal movements.

Mum Paula told the inquest into her infant son’s death, which took place before Dr Mary Flanagan at Cavan Coroner’s Court last Friday, that she will forever live with the “guilt” of having not pressed for a second opinion after feeling that the baby’s heartbeat wasn’t strong.

She didn’t say anything as she felt “afraid of being snapped at” following an earlier incident at the hospital.

“I have to live with the guilt for not asking for a second opinion,” Paula told the hearing.

Baby Tadgh was pronounced dead on June 4, 2016. A doppler scan was carried out but found no heartbeat.

“After his death, we knew that something was missed in not receiving a further scan and said it so many times to the hospital in trying to find answers. Every time, we were told that the problem was a genetic one even though all the research we did indicated that genetics had not played any role in our baby’s death. Yet the hospital refused to listen to us like they had refused to listen to me when I was pregnant. Today, the hospital had no choice but to listen and the Coroner’s verdict shows that what we said all along was the truth,” said the Doyles, after a verdict of Medical Misadventure was returned following the hearing.

The Doyle family conclude by saying that they now hope that Cavan General Hospital “learns from what happened to our baby and that doctors listen and trust pregnant women when they complain that something is not right - we know our babies and we know our bodies. We really hope that another family does not have to go through the devastating heartbreak that we have suffered”.

The RCSI Hospital Group, which manages Cavan General, has not responded to a request for comment.

* For detailed report from the Coroner's Court, see pages 14-15 of this week's print edition of The Anglo-Celt.