The HSE has apologised for failings in the care provided to a baby girl who died shortly after her birth at the Midlands Regional Hospital, Portlaoise 11 years ago.
Ciara Loughlin’s parents, Elizabeth and John, were also told that the HSE regretted that Ms Loughlin’s medical records were altered in relation to the timing of her admission to the hospital on August 21st, 2007.
The apology was read as part of a settlement of an action brought by the couple, from Lough, Portarlington, Co Laois, against the HSE for nervous shock over the death of Ciara, who died after a Caesarean birth. The details of the settlement are confidential.
The couple had sought to discover what happened to their daughter after an RTÉ Prime Time programme about the deaths of four babies at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise was aired in 2014.
In the action, it was claimed Mrs Loughlin went into labour at about 10.30pm on August 21st, 2007, was admitted to the Portaloise hospital where a cardiotocograph (CTG) allegedly showed a grossly abnormal heart rate.
It was claimed there was failure to respond to the CTG and to manage or treat Mrs Loughlin adequately or appropriately in that an emergency caesarean section was not carried out until 12.25am on August 22nd, 2007.
Unavoidable
Ciara was delivered five minutes later and was resuscitated but did not survive. It was alleged her death was presented to the Loughlins as unavoidable.
The Loughlins were devastated, shocked and extremely upset by the events which had occurred but tried to get on with their lives, the court heard. As a result of the programme, broadcast in January 2014, they sought to discover what had happened to their baby.
The couple, it was claimed, found the contents of the programme extremely shocking and distressing and it reawoke in them all the trauma and upset they had suffered and tried to suppress.
They attended a meeting on the hospital premises in April 2014 and viewed their file and medical notes for the first time since their daughter’s death.
It was claimed that at this meeting it became known to them that the medical records relating to Ciara’s birth appeared to have been altered, in particular Mrs Loughlin’s time of arrival at the hospital. It was alleged the alteration was made in order to impact on the family’s case, and to allegedly place an impediment in relation to examination of the records by their medical experts.
The claims were denied.