Coroner's concern on baby tragedy; INQUEST: Paediatrician on site 'could have saved infant's life'.Byline: By Will Oliphant A BABY who died at Solihull Hospital would probably have survived if there had been a paediatrician present, an inquest heard. The comment came during an inquest in Birmingham on Charlie Edwards, who died as a result of intrapartum hypoxia hypoxia Condition in which tissues are starved of oxygen. The extreme is anoxia (absence of oxygen). There are four types: hypoxemic, from low blood oxygen content (e.g., in altitude sickness); anemic, from low blood oxygen-carrying capacity (e.g. - oxygen starvation during birth - in December 2003. Dr Sian Harding, a consultant neo-natalogist, said that had there been a paediatrician at the hospital when Charlie was born "in the balance of probability he would have survived". She said the current system of having to bring one in from Heartlands Hospital, Birmingham, meant that doctors got there too late to give life-saving treatment. "I think in this case when the Heartlands team arrived they performed an extremely good complex resuscitation resuscitation /re·sus·ci·ta·tion/ (-sus?i-ta´shun) restoration to life of one apparently dead. cardiopulmonary resuscitation , but it was too late," she said. "The chances of getting an intact baby after 40 minutes was virtually nil." Dr Harding added that midwives at Solihull, specially trained in resuscitation, could not offer the same level of treatment - such as giving intravenous medication. Birmingham Coroner Aidan Cotter, recording a verdict of death by natural causes of intrapartum hypoxia, said there was no evidence of neglect by staff at Solihull Hospital. But he said he would write to the Heart of England NHS Trust National Health Service Trusts (NHS Trusts) provide many services of the National Health Service in England and Wales. They are not trusts in the legal sense but are in effect public sector corporations. and other medical bodies with concerns over the lack of a paediatrician based at Solihull. A statement issued on behalf of Charlie's mother and father, Melanie Hughes and Jason Edwards Jason Edwards is a musician and producer born in 1969 in Tamworth, Birmingham, UK. He is most well known for being the guitarist in U.K hard rock/ metal outfit 'Wolfsbane', who had considerable success in the early 90s, signing to Rick Rubins 'Def American' label. , of Balsall Common Balsall Common (often known as Balsall Compton) is a large village and one of the larger rural settlements in the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, situated seven miles (eleven km) west of Coventry and 13 miles (21 km) to the east of Birmingham, to which it serves as a , said: "The family are relieved that the inquest process has come to an end, having waited four years since Charlie's death. "A number of criticisms have been made of the system operated at Solihull Hospital and the family very much hope that the comments heard over the last three days will be taken on board by the trust so that a similar tragedy can be avoided in the future." Lisa Dunn, Solihull Hospital director, said: "We accept the coroner's verdict of death by natural causes and express our condolences to the family. "The trust's maternity services have received the highest rating for safety as measured by the national external body responsible for rating all NHS trusts and their inspection included Solihull maternity unit. "The opinion of the coroner always matters to the trust and we will co-operate with any other agency which might help further improve the trust's maternity services as we only want to run the safest possible services for our patients." CAPTION(S): PARENTS... Melanie Hughes and Jason Edwards arrive at Birmingham Coroner's Court.; CRITIC... Dr Sian Harding. |
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