Dr Philip Crowley´s has made an apology was prior to the broadcasting of RTE´s Prime Time “Fatal Failures” program. The program is an exposé of the failings in care at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise which resulted in the avoidable deaths of four babies during the last six years.
Acting as the National Director of Quality & Patient Safety at the Health Service Executive,Dr Philip Crowley has made a public apology to four families whose babies died due to childbirth medical negligence at the Midland Regional Hospital in Portlaoise.
Two of the parents featured on the program are Roisin and Mark Molloy from Tullamore in County Offaly. Their son, Mark, was born at the hospital in January 2012. However, he died shortly after his delivery a consequence of suffering from foetal hypoxia in the womb. The couple had to battle with the hospital for four months before it was conceded that Mark had a heartbeat when he was born. It was only then that an investigation into his death was initiated.
Even then, it took a further twenty months to conclude the investigation – a delay which was described by Dr Crowley as “lamentable” – which ultimately reported that “failures in the standard of care provided were casually linked to the foetal hypoxia damage that occurred”. The report recommended a number of actions to prevent the same mistakes happening again.
However, a short time later, Roisin Molloy was listening to the radio when she heard Shauna Keyes recount how her son – Joshua – had died soon after his birth at the Midland General Hospital. The circumstances surrounding the birth of both of her children was startlingly similar. The two women got in touch with each other and RTE´s Investigation Unit picked up the story.
The RTE Investigation Unit discovered there were at least two further incidents of babies dying after birth due to childbirth medical negligence. Both of which had been investigated internally at the hospital, but the results of the investigations never delivered to the grieving parents. The RTE investigators also disclosed that none of the recommended measures following baby Mark Molloy´s death had been implemented and, if they had, all three of the childbirth fatalities could have been avoided.
Appearing in the program, Dr Philip Crowley apologised “unequivocally” to the parents who had lost children due to childbirth medical negligence and, appearing on the radio show Today, the Minister for Health – Dr James Reilly – also commented that the level of service provided at the Midland Hospital in Portlaoise was “utterly unacceptable”. The Minister said that he had asked the Chief Medical Officer to conduct a further investigation into the failings of care at the hospital.