Dame Phyllis Frost prison nurse ‘did not try to save’ Baby A

A prison nurse who responded to an inmate’s screams for help when her baby stopped breathing did not perform CPR on the infant, an inquest has heard.

The death of a baby girl at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre is being probed. Picture: Kylie Else

A prison nurse answering the harrowing screams for help of a female inmate whose baby had stopped breathing, failed to try to save the 12-day old infant, a coronial inquest has heard.

Coroner John Olle is probing the death of Baby A — a vulnerable baby girl born withdrawing from methadone due to her criminal mother’s drug use during pregnancy — at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on August 18, 2018.

Other inmates told the court on Thursday of how the on-call nurse, Georgina Melody did not even touch the newborn girl, let alone perform CPR, when eventually let in to the “Mothers and Babies” unit by Corrections officers.

The court heard the nurse stopped near the mother, who was hysterical and pleading for help, and simply apologised.

“The nurse said ‘Oh, I’m sorry’ and that’s it,” another inmate, who can only be known as “Alice”, told the court.

“She had her medical bag with her. She just placed it down and said ‘Oh, I’m sorry’. She did not touch the baby.

“There was no comforting or asking what happened. It was just straight away, ‘Where was the baby sleeping?’.”

Alice said this was after prison officers initially hung up on her when she used the intercom to alert them to the emergency situation.

“I yelled ‘hurry up, the baby’s not breathing’,” she said. “They hung up on me.”

She pressed the button to call them back immediately.

“I asked them not to hang up on us — we didn’t know what to do,” Alice said.

“They said a code has already been called. They just closed off the intercom. They didn’t even let us talk.”

Coroner John Olle is probing the death of Baby A at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre. Picture: Kylie Else

She said when the officers came, they stood outside the unit with the nurse, saying they had to wait for management approval to enter, as per protocols.

Another woman, given the pseudonym “Cathy”, who was also in the unit with her baby, described the frantic scenes which woke everyone up about 5.30am.

“(There was) a lot of commotion and screaming going on,” she said.

While Alice was calling authorities for help, another witness “Donna” described how her “maternal instincts just kicked in” and she ran to Baby A’s side and began chest compressions.

But she said it was too late.

“There was no life,” Donna described, saying Baby A “felt like a rubber doll, not a baby”.

The Sunday Herald Sun revealed how the inquest was starting on Monday, with Coroner Olle seeking answers as to if Baby A’s death — believed to be from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome — could have been prevented.

The management of the special program that allows children to reside behind bars with their mothers is expected to be scrutinised during the 10-day coronial probe.

“Alice” explained a lack of support for mothers in the program at the women’s maximum security prison.

“If I had my time over again, I probably wouldn’t apply for the program,” she said.

While the women were told not to have their baby’s sleep in bed with them, she said a “majority” of the inmates did, and if guards came by they would pretend they were breastfeeding or quickly put them back in their cot.

Baby A’s mother claims she had woken to feed her baby but found her unresponsive in the cot.

The inquest continues.