Coroner reopens investigations into Mackay Hospital baby deaths
A coroner has reopened the investigations into three baby deaths following the shock findings of substandard care at the Mackay Base Hospital, with one mother saying her tiny daughter could have been saved.
QLD News
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Investigations into the deaths of three babies at Mackay Base Hospital will be reopened, a coroner has announced.
It comes after a damning report revealed the hospital’s substandard obstetrics and gynaecology services had led to at least three infant deaths.
More than 80 women were interviewed about their experiences at the Mackay facility, including mother Shontell Falconer, whose daughter Rahni died the day after she was born in 2020.
Investigations found Rahni was a perfectly healthy baby, but staff inattention and inability to diagnose Ms Falconer’s pre-eclampsia condition and an emergency caesarean that was performed too late were contributing factors in her death.
Ms Falconer told A Current Affair on Friday night her daughter could have been saved.
“I remember the nurses looking at her, going there’s nothing wrong with this girl,” Ms Falconer said.
“She was perfect, there was nothing wrong with her.
“She just should have been out sooner, she could have been saved.”
Rahni was born with little to no brain function and died a day later.
She is one of three child death cases to be reopened by the coroner.
Queensland Health Minister Yvette D’Ath has apologised to the women and families affected by Mackay Hospital’s botched surgery and inadequate care, before sacking the entire hospital board.
“No family should ever have to experience the devastation of the loss of a child and certainly not under these circumstances,” Ms D’Ath said.
The board sacking was criticised, with an insider claiming Ms D’Ath fired the staff to save her own skin.
Information on the death of the three babies will be gathered for the coroner over an eight-week period, with an inquest yet to be decided.
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