Failure in GPs’ communication contributed to baby’s death

An emergency caesarean would probably have been performed earlier if there'd been a better handover between the two GPs: SA coroner
Australian Associated Press
fetal heart rate

Better communication between two rural GPs could have helped prevent the death of a newborn baby, a SA coroner has found.

The infant girl died from hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy secondary to intrapartum hypoxia, two days after her emergency caesarean birth.

Coroner Anthony Schapel found a “proper and thorough” handover of the baby’s mother, who was suffering from a uterine rupture and obstructed labour, between two GPs was one factor that could have prevented her death.

The newborn’s mother was attempting a vaginal birth after previous caesarian section (VBAC) for her second delivery, 18 months after the birth of her son, according to the coroner’s findings.