Parents hope inquest prevents more deaths

Updated November 5 2012 - 10:49pm, first published July 22 2010 - 6:27am

The parents of a newborn baby who died from bleeding in her brain after a vacuum extraction at Wollongong Hospital hope the inquest into her death will mean no other family is stricken by such a tragedy.Clutching a photograph of their daughter Helani, the Farmborough Heights couple spoke outside the State Coroner’s Court in Sydney after a coroner recommended changes to the neonatal policy at the South Eastern Sydney/ Illawarra Health Service."By those findings we hope that this tragedy won’t have to happen to another family or baby again," Helani’s father, Michael Sirianni, said outside the court."Unfortunately there wasn’t enough evidence before the coroner to find out that Helani may have ever survived."Helani Sirianni was delivered by vacuum extraction on February 8, 2008 at Wollongong Hospital.As her condition deteriorated, she was transported by helicopter to the Royal Hospital for Women at Randwick where she was eventually taken off life support.Helani remained alive for almost two and half hours after being taken off life support.Deputy State Coroner Scott Mitchell said it was unclear whether the vacuum extraction - a common mode of delivery - was responsible for the baby’s brain haemorrhage.The haemorrhage could have arguably been diagnosed earlier, but in Helani’s case it was not clear that anything effective could have been done, he said.He commended the South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service for amending its neonatal policy in 2008.He noted there was little to add for recommendation, but suggested rewording part of the document to ensure there was no confusion on monitoring of babies.READ THE FULL STORY IN THE ILLAWARRA MERCURY ON FRIDAY.

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