Baby of woman found dead in CUMH in critical condition
A baby boy whose mother was found dead in her room at Cork University Maternity Hospital (CUMH) is understood to be in a critical condition.
The newborn was discovered underneath his mother who was lying on the floor.
The hospital has described the incident, which took place this morning, as “a tragic occurrence”.
A spokesperson for the South/Southwest hospital group (SSWHG) said a “full medical investigation was immediately initiated” as is the case in all maternal deaths. The investigation is ongoing.
A post mortem was also conducted today on the body of the mother, understood to be in her 30s.
It’s understood the baby, who was born at the weekend, was found at the breast of its mother, on the floor of the single room, and required emergency treatment.
Staff had checked on the woman at 7am on Monday morning, and found nothing amiss.
However she was found lying on the floor with her child when doctors arrived during a ward round an hour later.
One possibility being investigated is that a medical episode caused the woman to fall out of bed while she was breastfeeding.
Figures published by the Confidential Maternal Death Enquiry Ireland (CMDE) for the period 2013-2015 show a total of 15 maternal deaths, occurring during or within 42 days of the end of the pregnancy.
Of these 15 deaths, four were classified as direct, nine as indirect, and the remaining two were attributed to coincidental causes.
There was no evidence of clustering in any one maternity hospital.
The data also found that two-thirds of maternal deaths were due to a pre-existing health condition, with heart disease being the leading cause of death.
Direct causes included Thromboembolism (blood clot) (1), Pre-Eclampsia/Eclampsia (1), Amniotic Fluid Embolism (1) and Early Pregnancy Complication (1).
Six of the nine indirect maternal deaths in 2013-2015 were attributed to cardiac disease.
The two coincidental maternal deaths were due to malignancy.
