Mother on misadventure verdict: "I thought I was bringing her to a safe place"
The death of baby Mary Kate Kelly has officially been recorded as being that of a result of "medical misadventure".
However, her parents, Amy Delahunt and Oliver Kelly, now know that the decision to go to Portlaoise Maternity Hospital was one that sealed the fate of their little girl.
The inquest in Limerick heard from a consultant there who said Mary Kate would have been born alive if doctors in Portlaoise had acted on the results of a CTG scan.
Ms Delahunt said: "We wanted to know the truth. It was very hard to make the decision to go back to meet the consultants to find out what would happen."
"We wanted to find out what errors were made and we wanted to make sure that these errors never happen again."
She continued: "I would encourage any parents or any patients who have attended any hospitals who have any concerns about the way they were treated to please go in and engage with the hospital and the HSE."
"The public service belongs to us."
"Over the last few days what we have being seen from the HSE is that their patient safety and quality department is simply not fit for purpose."
"I have been haunted and I will be haunted to the day I die that I made the decision to go to Portlaoise instead of Limerick. I thought I was doing the right thing. I was getting help for my baby.
"I thought I was bringing her to a safe place."
Mr Kelly stated: "It was a most wanted baby. They said they couldn't guarantee that she would be perfect but she would have been perfect to us.
"We would have spoiled her and treated her like no other."
