Inquest continues of mother who died at Mayo University Hospital after giving birth
A staff midwife at Mayo University Hospital (MUH) gave evidence at the inquest today into the death of a 28-year-old first-time mother hours after giving birth of seeing blood on the floor of the delivery room.
Marcella Gavin told the Coroner for Mayo, Pat O’Connor, that the blood on an incontinence sheet which she removed from the right hand side of the bed contained approximately 10 mls. of dried blood.
The size of the stain was smaller than the palm of her hand but larger than a €2 coin, Ms. Gavin testified on the second day of the inquest into the death of Nayyab Tariq.
She explained that she requested a healthcare assistant to remove the blood from the floor.
Ms. Tariq lived in Ballyhaunis with her husband, Ayaz Ul Hussan, a fellow Pakistani.
She died in an operating theatre at MUH on March 22, 2020, four hours after giving birth to a healthy baby girl.
The infant was subsequently named Nayyab, in honour of her late mother.
Ms. Tariq died after a cardiac arrhythmia arrest which had been preceded by post partum haemorrhage.
Her husband, Ayaz, gave evidence at the outset of the hearing yesterday that he had been concerned about a “sudden gush” of blood onto the bed linen after his wife, Nayyab, gave birth at Mayo University Hospital.
Mr. Ul Hassan said that the amount of blood seemed substantial to him but the attending medics did not seem to be overly concerned by it.
However, number of medical staff present in the delivery room told the inquest they did not recall pooling of blood at any time.
Evidence was given on Tuesday by Dr. Ike Uzochukwu, Registrar in Obstetrics and Gynaecology, that Ms. Tariq had a post-partum haemorrhage of 500 mls.
After two unsuccessful attempts to remove the placenta, Ms. Tariq gave written consent for manual removal following an explanation of the procedure and risks involved.
Dr. Uzochukwu said the collection of suctioned blood loss and weighed swabs (including labour ward) gave a blood loss of 875 mls.
The total blood loss was 2.79 litres, the obstetrician stated.
Responding to a question from the coroner, Dr. Uzochukwu said it was his opinion Ms. Tariq was in relatively good shape – insofar as she had just delivered a baby – when she was moved from the labour ward.
The inquest is expected to conclude tomorrow (Wednesday) when Johan Verbrruggen (Callan Tansey & Company), for Ms. Tariq’s family, and Conor Halpin S.C, for the Saolta Hospital Group, the HSE and MUH, make closing submissions.