Pathologists could not determine the cause of fatal brain injuries suffered by a baby boy who died aged 15 months.
An open verdict was returned at the inquest of Baby Maison Midleton Browne who died at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin on October 30th, 2015. The infant, from in Carlow town, became unresponsive while seated in his buggy at his home shortly before midnight two days earlier.
His mother’s partner, who said he “treated the child like my own” witnessed the child become “lifeless”.
"His eyes started to flicker. He went lifeless," Chris Kerins said. He called the child's mother who performed chest compressions while waiting for emergency services to arrive.
Dublin Coroner’s Court heard the child had bumped his head three days previously after crawling under a low table. The infant, who was not yet crawling and had a limited vocabulary, had some developmental delays, the court heard.
On the day he was rushed from his home critically ill, his mother said. He was taking power naps and had slept longer than normal. She thought this was because he was teething. As a result he was up later than usual and had been dancing to music with his Mr Kerins in the kitchen before becoming unresponsive.
“He was fine, he just didn’t want to go to sleep that night,” mum Melissa Midleton told the court.
“I saw him 15 minutes before. He was fine. He was sleepy because it was gone late. I was down on the floor with him. He had cuddled into me,” she said.
Baby Maison was rushed to St Luke’s Hospital in Kilkenny and later transferred to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin where he died two days later on December 30th.
Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster conducted an autopsy and found the child had suffered a bleed on the brain at least one week previously but this was not sufficient to cause his death. It is not known what caused this initial bleed. Dr Bolster suggested it could have been a fall or similar injury.
“For whatever reason he developed a fresh bleed,” Dr Bolster said, resulting in his sudden collapse at home. The autopsy revealed retinal hemorrhage, which is classically associated with inflicted trauma, but has also been linked in medical literature to severe infection, the pathologist said.
The cause of death was given as lack of oxygen to the brain due to brain swelling with an acute and chronic subdural hemorrhage associated with severe bronchial pneumonia.
The gardai were notified by the Child and Family Agency Tusla and a full investigation was conducted. The Director of Public Prosecution directed no charges be brought.
All doctors and nurses involved in the child’s care over his 15 month lifetime said they had no concerns for his welfare.
The court heard that it was not possible to fully identify the circumstances that lead to Maison's collapse. Returning an open verdict, Coroner Dr Myra Cullinane told family members the reason for this verdict was that 'not every piece of the puzzle has been put together in court.'