'Our hearts are broken beyond repair'

'Our hearts are broken beyond repair' - Mother of baby who died after birth in Mayo speaks after HSE settlement

A couple who sued over the death of their baby three days after his birth at Mayo University Hospital has settled a High Court action against the HSE.

Baby Cian Hunt died on October 6, 2018 in a Dublin hospital where he had been transferred for specialist treatment to reduce swelling of his brain.

The HSE had denied the Hunt family's claim that it had been negligent and contended that the care given was appropriate. Mr Justice Paul Coffey offered his deepest sympathy to the family.

The terms of the settlement are confidential and without an admission of liability.

“Our hearts are broken beyond repair. Our hope out of our very tragic circumstances is that no other family will ever have to live the nightmare we do,” his mother Breda Hunt told Mr Justice Paul Coffey in the High Court on Thursday.

The family’s counsel Bruce Antoniotti SC instructed by Rachael Liston solicitor told the court the family from Ballaghaderreen, Co Mayo had suffered tragedies before Cian’s death; two stillbirths, Sarah in 2014 and David in 2016.

Counsel said it was their case that the hospital should have been learned from these still born births which were also at the Castlebar hospital, and he said if they had, it was their contention the death of Cian would have been avoided.

He said it was their case that a plan to admit Mrs Hunt to hospital for a caesarean section at 36 weeks was changed in favour of a natural delivery.

He said a decision was made at 8.30am on October 3, 2018, for a caesarean section, and the mother was transferred to theatre at 9.20am. Cian was delivered at 10.10 am and Counsel said he was in very poor condition. He was airlifted to a Dublin hospital but died there on October 6, 2018.

The case was before the court for the division of the statutory €35,000 mental distress payment only.

In her statement to the court, Mrs Breda Hunt said losing their son Cian after their previous two losses with Sarah and David brought with it another layer of grief for herself and her husband David “that no one can even begin to understand.”.

She added: “We are over four years on from losing our precious baby Cian. Our lives and the people we were prior to Cian are so very different. Not a day goes by that we don’t wonder what Cian would be like, who he would look like, and how different our lives would be if he were here.”

She said they were pleased that since Cian’s death, changes have been made in Mayo University Hospital.

“We hope that they continue to look back on our story and continue to learn from it and make changes to better the maternity service,” she said.

She said they were also glad there had been a recommendation made around the formalising of ongoing foetal monitoring after a failed induction in the period prior to a caesarean section.

“While these changes are welcomed it doesn’t change the sad reality that our arms are still empty and hearts still broken,” she told the judge.

In their action against the HSE they claimed there was an alleged failure to properly recognise or consider Mrs Hunt’s past obstetric history of placental abruption and hypercoiling in two pregnancies resulting in stillbirths at 36 and 38 weeks and that it presented a recognised increased risk of sudden unexpected and unpreventable foetal complications.

It was further claimed there was an alleged failure in the light of all this to make any or any adequate or sufficient plan for delivery of baby Cian in a safe and timely manner.