Four year old baby died following lack of oxygen, inquest hears

Twm Owen Local Democracy Reporter

A baby died at just four days old after suffering a damage to his brain from a lack of oxygen, an inquest has heard.

A consultant paediatric pathologist who conducted a postmortem analysis on Jac Lewis said it was likely the lack of oxygen occurred around the time of delivery by emergency c-section at the Grange University Hospital.

Dr Andrew Richard Bamber also advised Gwent area coroner, Rose Farmer, there may be other contributing factors she heard that she may feel could be added to the cause of death.

The inquest has previously heard how baby Jac’s mum Ceri Lewis felt ignored and hadn’t been attended to when she felt in severe pain, and had vomited, after going to the Cwmbran hospital for an induced birth on November 1, 2024.

Dr Bamber, who is based at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and the North Bristol NHS Trust, also told the inquest Jac’s placenta was unusually small, weighing just 300 grammes approximately compared to an average at 38 weeks of 500g.

He said it wasn’t possible to say why the placenta was small and diabetes, which Mrs Lewis has, can contribute to a small placenta. He also said having a small placenta doesn’t always cause problems for babies.

But a small placenta means “there is a lot less resilience” should something happen to disrupt a baby’s oxygen supply, said Dr Bamber.

“You just have a little bit less resilience to do that as the placenta is already feeling the strain.”

He described the small placenta as “probably a significant contributing factor but that does not mean there aren’t other factors, I can’t assess, that also contributed.”

Dr Bamber said Jac was a “normally developed baby” and the lack of oxygen likely occurred around the time of delivery, which he said could be “shortly before, during of after the time of delivery.”

He also noted Jac had been twice resuscitated, following his birth.

Andrew Morse, representing Jac’s mother and father Ceri and Matthew Lewis, and Samantha Paxman, for the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board which runs the Grange Hospital, both told Ms Farmer she may feel a conclusion with a narrative around the circumstances may be appropriate.

Mr Morse said the family had concerns about the “different approaches” midwives who’d given evidence earlier in the hearing said they would take, or how concerns raised by Mrs Lewis during induction, could be escalated.

Ms Paxman reminded the coroner since Jac’s death the health board has made changes including an additional midwife on shift, between the labour and induction wards, it now has ECG machines to monitor a baby’s heart rate available in every room on the ward, and listens for a baby’s heart rate, in high risk pregnancies, every six hours rather than 12, which is more than required by national guidance.

Coroner Ms Farmer is expected to deliver her conclusions later today, Thursday, March 26.