Sydney baby girl died of meth toxicity just eight hours after birth

A baby girl who died just hours after she was born at a Sydney hospital had a lethal amount of meth in her system – but the investigation into her death has been closed.

A baby girl who died just hours after she was born had a lethal amount of meth in her tiny body – but the investigation into her death has been closed.

The baby girl’s mum admitted to drinking methamphetamine at a party just hours before she went into labour in September 2019.

The baby lived just eight hours before she passed away in her mothers arms at Canterbury Hospital, following a pulmonary haemorrhage.

The baby’s cause of death was unknown until a coronial inquest was held just weeks ago – where it was found her death was the result of meth toxicity.

However, a Deputy State Coroner Magistrate Erin Kennedy has since closed the case, with a police spokesperson confirming “no charges were laid” in line with the coroner’s recommendation.

The baby girl died at Canterbury Hospital. (AAP IMAGE / Carmela Roche).

The mother was first interviewed at the hospital after her baby’s death and denied taking any drugs or alcohol while pregnant.

However, three years later – when speaking to a NSW Police detective, she recounted spending time with acquaintances who were taking drugs.

She told the detective she picked up a bottle of water from a table that she thought was hers, however drank one sip and quickly realised it was not water.

“(She said) it tasted like medicine and was very bitter,” the detective told the inquest.

“She believed it might be a prohibited drug and immediately drank a lot of water and put her fingers down her throat to try and vomit but without success. She stated that she felt no effects from drinking the substance.”

The woman was due to give birth two weeks later, however went into labour the day after drinking the substance.

The baby’s mother told police she accidentally drank meth the day before the baby was born.

Police told the court the woman and her husband did not have any drug history on their records.

The inquest also heard from a forensic toxicologist employed by the New South Wales Police Force, who said the detected level of meth in the baby’s system was “concerning”.

The toxicologist told the inquest that in the 10 like cases she had assessed over the years, the amount of meth in the baby’s system was the highest she had witnessed, and that the pulmonary events were consistent with the toxic effects of methylamphetamine.

Magistrate Kennedy agreed in her findings the baby was exposed to lethal levels of meth before her death.

“The pulmonary hypertension raised by the treating doctors without any other cause identified at autopsy, is consistent with methylamphetamine toxicity,” she said.

“This is an important message to any mother of an unborn child that the exposure to any amount of methylamphetamine, even a small exposure can have detrimental and indeed lethal effects as it passes in higher concentrations to the unborn child.”