A CARNE couple whose son was stillborn as a result of acknowledged failures in care provided at Wexford General Hospital have spoken out in a bid to help avert other families from experiencing similar distress in future.

Mignon and Derek Underwood lost their son Conor in September 2012, following an alleged series of shortcomings on the part of the Health Service Executive (HSE) which included a failure to diagnose in a timely manner the pre-eclampsia with which Ms. Underwood had been suffering.

“Really the treatment I received was diabolical,” Ms. Underwood has said, adding “most of the time I’m fairly detached from the story… because it is so horrific that it’s like a movie script.”

Having sued the HSE with regard to the trauma she suffered, the former owner of the popular Karoo Farm Shop received an apology in the High Court in December and an out-of-court settlement was made.

However, while the controversial eighth amendment to the Constitution claims to recognise the equal right to life of the mother and the unborn child, the family could not take action with regard to Conor’s death as the stillborn child was not recognised as a life.

“I think it’s important to let people know that should the unthinkable happen and your baby in the womb die as a result of medical negligence that the state doesn’t stand behind you, the state doesn’t recognise the fact that it was a baby and you can’t take the state to court for that… it’s so wrong” Mr. Underwood said.

“In the starkest terms, every time a pregnant women walks in to her GP or through the doors of a hospital, should somebody give her the wrong drug, should somebody prescribe her something incorrect and she loses the baby, there is no avenue and they know it,” he added.

Read more in the Wexford Echo.