'Misadventure' verdict on mother

A first time mother who died a week after an emergency Caesarean section lost her life in medical misadventure, an inquest jury has found.

Dhara Kivlehan, 29 and originally from India, died in Belfast’s Royal Victoria Hospital on September 28 2010 after being airlifted from Sligo hospital where she had given birth a week earlier and suffered a severe strain of pre-eclampsia.

The five day hearing at Carrick-on-Shannon courthouse heard deficiencies in her care included a 96 hour delay in a kidney specialist assessing her critical condition and a 12 hour gap in the first set of blood tests being reviewed.

Yesterday was the fourth anniversary of Mrs Kivlehan’s death and a week since her son Dior turned four.

The young mother died on the fifth anniversary of her marriage to Michael Kivlehan in a wedding in his wife’s home province of Gujarat, India.

Her death was recorded as 2.10pm in the afternoon, the same time as the service.

Widower and full-time father Michael, supported by his mother Susan and father Michael senior, said the inquests was about getting answers.

“We had no answers up to now. Even though it came to litigation we weren’t allowed answers in our day in court, to get the feel for where things went wrong,” he said.

“We knew the answers as to how Dhara died and we had the best medical experts in the world and in the inquest they have more or less said the same thing.

“We have clarity now but in a curtailed fashion.”

The Health Service Executive (HSE) said the delay in checking the blood results was a shortcoming.

The agency apologised on behalf of Sligo hospital at a civil case in the High Court last year where Mr Kivlehan and baby Dior were awarded almost one million euro (£780,000) in damages.

“Again on behalf of the management and staff of Sligo hospital we would like to take this opportunity to repeat this apology and reiterate our sincere condolences,” the HSE said in a statement.

Mrs Kivlehan died from multi-organ failure as a result of suffering Hellp syndrome – Haemolysis, Elevated Liver Enzymes and Low Platelets, the severe strain of pre-eclampsia.

Source Article from https://uk.news.yahoo.com/inquest-told-care-deficiencies-101801938.html

'Misadventure' verdict on mother