Baby's hospital death caused by congenital heart condition, inquest finds

Baby Thea Flaskett's death at Redcliffe Hospital caused by congenital heart defect, inquest finds Mon 20 Jul 2026 at 12:51pm In short: A coroner has ruled a baby's death at Redcliffe Hospital in 2023 was caused by a congenital heart defect. They also found all staff involved in her care post-birth "did everything they could". The autopsy found the newborn had the undetected cardiac abnormality Transposition of the Great Arteries. The death of a baby girl at a south-east Queensland hospital was the result of her undiagnosed congenital heart defect, "not the standard of her post-delivery care", a coroner has ruled. Thea Flaskett died four hours after she was born via vacuum assisted delivery at Redcliffe Hospital in September 2023. An autopsy found the newborn had the undetected cardiac abnormality Transposition of the Great Arteries (TGA). The circumstances surrounding her death were the subject of an inquest held in Brisbane last year after her parents raised concerns about her care post-birth. On Monday, Deputy State Coroner Stephanie Gallagher published her findings and ruled Thea's cause of death was TGA and "one or more factors" made her condition unsurvivable. "It was compounded by poorer oxygenation of the blood than most other babies born with that condition would experience … because Thea had reduced shunting and possibly postpartum haemorrhage," she said in her findings. Whether determining whether TGA should have been picked up in scans during her mother's pregnancy, Ms Gallagher found that was "not reasonably supported by the evidence". Missed detection 'not uncommon' Ms Gallagher said experts called during the inquest explained antenatal detection rates for the condition were low. "Missed detection, such as in Thea's case, is not uncommon," she said in her findings. "That it was missed here was through no fault of the sonographers or radiologist involved in Thea's care." Ms Gallagher said the fact it went undetected was "very clearly a consequence of the known limitations of antenatal screening". "The scanning was done in a conventional way and adhered to the prescribed methods, protocols and guidelines, and the imaging was of such quality that rescanning was not required." The inquest heard when Thea began to deteriorate in the minutes after her birth, staff at the hospital attempted resuscitation. Staff 'did everything they could' A neonatal rescue team based at the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital (RBWH) also attended and were involved in specialist care. Ms Gallagher found all staff "did everything they could, and ought to have done, to try to save Thea's life". "Despite resuscitating Thea to a high standard, her outcome was determined by her underlying congenital cardiac abnormality — not the standard of her post-delivery care," she said in her findings. Ultimately, Ms Gallagher found if her condition had been detected antenatally, the outcome may have been the same. "There was no guarantee that Thea's death would have been avoided," the coroner said in her findings. Two recommendations were made, including that Metro North Hospital and Health services (MNHHS) and the NeoRESQ team at the RBWH make inquiries about the resources used in New South Wales public hospitals, in relation to live-streaming to consultants. "In paediatric resuscitation bays in hospitals they serve to permit adequate visualisation of the patient and attending staff, as well as oral communication," Ms Gallagher said in her findings. "I also recommend that NeoRESQ and MNHHS enquire as to the detail required to be completed on the intake form for the like neonatal retrieval service in NSW, to see if amendments to the form used in Queensland would be apt."