Baby marks death can lead to change mother

 

An Offaly mother has voiced her hope that her little son’s death will result in changes in the nation’s maternity services.
Roisin Molloy from Killeigh was speaking after a High Court case taken by her and her husband against the HSE was settled.
Baby Mark Molloy lived for just 22 minutes after being born by emergency c-section at the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, on January 24, 2012.
In December 2013, a Portlaoise Coroner’s Court returned a verdict of medical misadventure in relation to Mark’s death.
Mother-of-four boys and Killeigh resident Roisin and her husband Mark say they had to fight to have their son’s death investigated.
They sued the HSE for emotional suffering and distress as a result of the death. The High Court on Wednesday heard the case had been settled. Details of the settlement were confidential.
The couple now want baby Mark’s death to bring about changes in maternity services.
“We pushed for Mark’s death to be investigated,” Roisin explained.
After his death, Mark and Roisin discovered other cases involving babies who had died after birth. The deaths later featured in a Prime Time investigation and a report by Chief Medical Officer Dr Tony Holohan found the maternity hospital was unsafe.
Roisin is hopeful an upcoming HIQA report will highlight the failings in the system and might answer “how the watchdogs and how the oversight let this happen again and again”.

She called for mandatory open disclosure on the part of maternity staff.

“If we have open disclosure it is not good enough just to say to the family, 'Look I made a mistake here’. They will have to report it,” Roisin explained. 

She wants her son’s death to lead to improvements in Irish maternity services. “We are proud as punch of him, the little pet, that he will make a change, that he will be remembered in a positive way,” Roisin said.
Speaking of Portlaoise Hospital, Roisin said: “Until I see a report to say that Portlaoise is safe, I won’t say it is a safe hospital.”
Mark and Roisin are planning to meet Minister for Health Leo Varadkar and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald to discuss the case. The Molloys claimed Mark’s death was caused by negligence and breach of duty aggravated by the conduct of the HSE in relation to the recorded status of the baby’s death and the manner in which the Molloys’ enquiries and complaints were dealt with.
They claimed his death was initially misrepresented as a stillbirth and the HSE, it was alleged, failed to give a full and frank account of what caused the death.