Why did baby Hayden die? - antidepressants?

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http://www.themorningbulletin.com.au/story/2009/04/24/why-did-baby-hayden-die-grieving-mum-seeks-answers/

Why did baby Hayden die?

Kieran | 24th April 2009

TRAGIC DEATH: Hayden -Wust died just 22 hours after being born.

LATISHA will never get to see the colour of her little boy's eyes, hear his first murmur or watch him ride a bike.

Hayden was only 22 hours old when he died last month after Ms , 21, gave birth at Rockhampton Hospital.

More than three weeks later Ms says she still doesn't know why her baby was born with fatal birth defects.

Yesterday, weeping in the arms of her partner, Norman Wust, Ms told how she never got to hold her son after he was born on March 25.

Now she wants to know if the prescribed anti-depressant medication she was on at the time she fell pregnant had caused her baby's death.

“I want to know what killed my son, then we can start grieving,” she said.

Ms wants to warn other mothers about the risks, if she discovers the anti-depressant drugs were responsible.

Health professionals have told The Morning Bulletin pregnant women should not take the medications Ms was prescribed.

Her general practitioner, who prescribed the anti-depressant medication in early 2008, said she had only told him of her pregnancy in September, (when she estimated to be 18 weeks pregnant) at which stage he advised her to stop taking them.

Ms said there were troubles with the first ultrasound, but a fluid problem detected had cleared-up when she changed her diet as instructed by a Rockhampton Hospital doctor.

Ms said after that, Rockhampton Hospital staff had told her “everything was fine”.

On the morning of March 25, she went into labour after a 40-week pregnancy.

She had a caesarean and doctors delivered Hayden at 1.49pm.

Ms said she never had a chance to touch her son before doctors told her he was having trouble breathing.

She said he was taken to the intensive care unit and for almost nine hours she waited to hear how her baby was.

About 10pm that night, Ms said she was told her son needed to be flown to the Mater Children's Hospital in Brisbane.

“They said I could see him (before he left). He just had tubes and everything in him ... he was just so tiny,” Ms said.

“They said they didn't know what was wrong with him.”

Hayden was baptised and flown to Brisbane.

Ms said she found out the next day he had died from kidney failure, but doctors didn't know what had caused it.

“No parent should have to bury their child. I never even got to hold him or touch him,” Ms said.

A Rockhampton Hospital spokesman said Ms didn't attend any antenatal appointments at the hospital and her first admission was the day she gave birth.

The spokesman said hospital records contained no details about any prescribed medication Ms was taking until she went into labour.

“I offer Latisha my heartfelt sympathy for her loss and offer her any assistance we have available to help her during the grieving process,” said Dr Coralee Barker, district chief executive officer at Central Queensland Health Service.

“A senior obstetrician has reviewed Ms 's care and is satisfied with the quality of postnatal treatment she received at Rockhampton Hospital.”

Dr Barker said the anti-depressant drugs Ms said she had been prescribed shouldn't be taken during pregnancy, “particularly during the first trimester”.

“Patients prescribed this drug are usually warned that they should not fall pregnant while they are ingesting the drug,” Dr Barker said.

“I invite Ms to contact our patient liaison officer at Rockhampton Hospital to clarify any concerns or information she requires,” she said.

“A Rockhampton Hospital pediatrician and social worker have already met with her.

“We would be happy to organise further meetings between Ms and the appropriate clinical staff to continue addressing her concerns.”

A spokesman from the Mater Children's Hospital in Brisbane, where Ms 's son died, said: “Hayden was born with no functioning kidneys which led to the underdevelopment of his lungs in the womb resulting in his death. His lungs could not sustain life.

“An autopsy or further investigation was unnecessary as his cause of death was clearly diagnosed by ultrasound.”