Brisbane babyâs heart issue missed at ultrasound, coroner hears
Parents of a baby who died in hospital just hours after birth say they have faced an anxious two-year wait for answers over their daughter’s death.
A baby who died a few hours after birth had a serious heart condition that was not picked up by an ultrasound scan before her birth, a coroner has heard.
Thea Flaskett died within four hours of being born at Redcliffe Hospital, north of Brisbane, in September 2023.
Meg and James Flaskett on Monday attended the opening for an inquest into their daughterâs death where Queensland Deputy State Coroner Stephanie Gallagher heard from three witnesses involved in Theaâs ultrasound scans.
Meg said outside court they hoped the inquest would bring the family answers.
âAs a family we have been very anxiously waiting two years for answers. Being here is going to be a very anxious and nerve-wracking week for us,â she said.
Gallagher heard an autopsy had shown Thea suffered from a congenital heart defect called transposition of the great arteries, where a reversed position of arteries affects bloodflow through the heart.
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Queensland Health supervising sonographer Craig John Collins testified he performed about 150 ultrasounds per year and had only once discovered a case of transposition from a scan.
Meg Flaskett had a routine morphology scan at 20 weeks of pregnancy in May 2023 that did not result in a detection of Theaâs transposition heart defect.
âThe screening test is not looking for a particular abnormality, weâre actually looking for what weâre expecting for a normal baby,â Collins said.
Counsel assisting Sarah Ford asked Mr Collins if there were limitations to morphology scans.
âItâs operator dependent. Thereâs a lot of limitations,â he said.
âPosition of the baby, size of the mother. All of these things could have a bearing on the limitations.â
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Collins said the ultrasound machinery was âmore than adequateâ for routine ultrasound scans.
Barrister Anna Cappellano, acting for Collins, asked him how Theaâs heart could have had specific features that suggested she did not have transposition.
âThere are different types and thatâs one of the reasons why the best centres in the world are sitting at 40 per cent for all they can find,â Collins said.
âWe should see classical transposition but unfortunately in this case we did not see it.â
Radiologist Stephen John Sinnott testified he had interpreted Theaâs routine ultrasound and he handled the results of 15 to 20 similar scans every day.
Counsel assisting Geoffrey Diehm asked Dr Sinnott if transpositions were not uncommonly missed in mid-trimester scans.
âYes,â Dr Sinnott said.
The Flaskett familyâs barrister, Sarah Lane, asked Dr Sinnott about an audit report from Redcliffe Hospital in 2019 that suggested the ultrasound machinery was below standard.
âThe concerns you raised in the audit report about the machinery, are you able to say if they were acted upon, whether Theaâs transposition would have been detectible?â she said.
Gallagher stopped Dr Sinnott from answering because of an objection to the question as being hypothetical and with too many unknown elements.
The inquest is due to go for another five days.
-with AAP
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