The mother of a newborn boy died after he suffered an epileptic seizure and fell from her bed.
Married mother-of-three Marie Downey, 36, from Cork, Ireland, was found dead in her room at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) on March 25, 2019, by her consultant obstetrician Dr Keelin O’Donoghue. A
A verdict of medical misadventure was returned on Thursday following a three-day inquest at Court Coroner’s Court.
Video link evidence was provided by Dr Kelehan who described Darragh to him as a normal, well-nourished, and well-grown newborn boy.
He added that Darragh’s life could have been saved if a member of hospital staff had found mother and baby within four minutes
Marie Downey was 36 years old when she died. She was a mother to three children. According to an inquest, her epileptic seizures caused her to fall on Darragh (not photographed), and she later fell on Darragh’s baby.
Following a seizure, his mother fell upon Baby Darragh Downey and caused a brain injury.
Dr Kelehan said that Darragh also died of acute respiratory failure due to multi-organ failure.
He said that Marie’s death from falling off the bed with her child was unrelated to his death, and that his body was pressing down on him for several minutes.
Giving the harrowing verdict, he said the damage to Darragh’s brain was caused by sustained compression on his chest, which pushed the sternum down towards the spine.
The heart was compressed, and blood could not be pumped to the brain or the heart.
Marie was taken from him and the damage had already been done, said he.
Dr Murphy offered Marie’s widower, Kieran Downey, his condolences, and added that Darragh ‘never regained consciousness’ so ‘there was no suffering’.
CorkBeo reported that Kieran spoke after the verdict and said that he doesn’t have faith in the system or believe seismic changes will prevent others families from going through such devastating loss.
Mrs Downey was given anticonvulsant medication. This she received ‘diligently,’ following a seizure that occurred during her first trimester.
The inquest was told that stress and fatigue were ‘precipitators for seizures’ in Marie, and that breastfeeding could have caused some stress
Marie had 2 other children. She was also diagnosed with epilepsy and suffered from multiple seizures throughout her two previous pregnancies. The inquest revealed that Marie had been diagnosed in 2010.
She was treated by the same consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist for all three of her pregnancies – Dr O’Donoghue at CUMH, who said she has experience with epileptic pregnant women.
Marie had stopped taking anti-convulsants for epilepsy while expecting her first baby, due to concerns about pregnancy, but started taking it again after having a seizure at 30 weeks.
Marie and Dr O’Donoghue had talked about the dangers of not using the medication. Both were pleased with Marie’s return to treatment as prescribed by Dr Peter Kinirons.
Darragh, the baby of Mrs Downey, and her husband were both at Cork University Maternity Hospital when Darragh died.
Marie took medication through her second and third pregnancies.
However, as Dr O’Donoghue told the inquest, she never attended an appointment with Dr Kinirons during her third pregnancy.
Marie informed Dr O’Donoghue that she will be visiting the neurologist in January 2019 at her 12 week appointment. However, due to family circumstances she was not able to make it.
Dr O’Donoghue stated that Marie attended the appointment and she assumed that Marie was there. She also admitted that it was an error not to contact Dr Kinirons regarding her patient’s pregnancy.
Additionally, she said that Marie was conscious of stress and fatigue as ‘precipitators to seizures’ and that her breastfeeding may have made it worse.
Also, she offered condolences for Mr. Downey.