Tragic death of newborn baby during Wigan family's holiday on Greek island

Dominic and Laura Maloney spoke to doctors and had tests to make sure it was safe for them to travel to Kefalonia 27 weeks into the pregnancy. Reassured that everything was progressing normally and there was no reason to be concerned, the couple and their children flew out for a holiday in the sunshine.

The flight was “unremarkable” and the holiday went well, until the day before they were due to fly home, July 7, 2022.

An inquest at Bolton Coroner’s Court this week heard Laura started having back pain, which became steadily worse.

Having previously delivered two children, she did not suspect she was going into labour, but was concerned so went to a hospital. Doctors found the baby’s heart rate was fluctuating and Laura was moving into labour at 29 weeks gestation.

The inquest heard Dominic was “ushered out of the room” and sent away, leaving him “completely uninformed” about what was happening.

A short time later, a medic ran towards him, her hands covered in blood, shouting that something had happened.

Dominic went to Laura and found out their son Connah Benedict Joseph Maloney had arrived at 9.45pm after an emergency delivery.

But shortly afterwards staff had run out of the room with him, taking him away from Laura.

Dominic said: “She was completely distraught and said they had taken away our baby.”

Coroner Timothy Brennand later said of this moment: “It would begin a dawn of realisation that he and his wife – Connah’s mother – were about to embark on any parent’s worst nightmare.”

It became clear that doctors were concerned for Connah and the couple were told he would be taken by military plane to a hospital in Athens.

The inquest heard the Maloneys faced a language barrier when communicating with Greek hospital staff, but they were given reassurance that their son was a “strong boy”.

However, they were dealt a “devastating blow” when they were told they could not travel with him. They were not even able to hold or comfort Connah before he left the hospital.

Connah was taken to the airport, but while on the tarmac, his condition deteriorated and he failed to respond to resuscitation attempts. He was pronounced dead at 1.55am on July 8, 2022.

The inquest heard a post-mortem examination was conducted in Greece which found Connah died from neo-natal respiratory distress syndrome, a recognised complication from premature births which happens when a baby's lungs are not fully developed.

A second examination was carried out in the UK, but the court heard the pathologist faced difficulties and recorded his cause of death as “unascertained”.

Retired consultant neonatologist Prof Simon Mitchell provided an expert report looking at Connah’s death for the inquest.

He said the “spontaneous onset of pre-term labour”, as experienced by Laura, was commonly unexplained and there did not appear to be any warning signs.

When an early labour is anticipated, doctors can provide steroid treatment to help the baby’s lungs develop, but there was no opportunity to do this.

Connah cried immediately after birth, but it soon became apparent he was in severe respiratory distress, so he was intubated, ventilated and taken to the nursery.

Prof Mitchell said he suffered a pneumothorax – a collapsed lung – and it was reinflated in hospital.

He said “something pretty catastrophic” must have happened when Connah was at the airport.

He felt the most likely possibility was pulmonary hypertensive crisis, which was driven by worsening hypoxia (low levels of oxygen) and inadequate ventilation support.

Prof Mitchell also looked at whether any of the care given to Connah was “sub-optimal”.

There was no record of him being given surfactant replacement therapy, which can help babies in severe respiratory distress, he said.

While Prof Mitchell was not familiar with facilities in Kefalonia, he said he would expect that hospitals in similar places would have ventilators and surfactant replacement therapy.

Mr Brennand recorded Connah’s medical cause of death as severe hypoxia, due to neo-natal respiratory distress syndrome, due to prematurity.

He had not received statements from the hospital staff involved in treating Connah or medical records, and only a brief report from the first post-mortem examination.

While there was no record of surfactant replacement therapy being administered, he did not know if it had not been given or if it was simply not recorded.

He also said there was no “meaningful, informed consent” from Connah’s parents on the decision to fly him to Athens.

Mr Brennand said there remained “gaps” in the evidence and he could not speculate about what happened, so he recorded an open conclusion.

Speaking about Connah’s parents, he said: “It is clear to me that they were dutiful, caring, assiduous parents who wanted to reassure themselves that taking themselves and their other children on a family holiday at 27 weeks gestation, as Connah was at that particular time, was safe and appropriate.

"Not every individual family would have done that and you did what you thought was instinctively the right and cautious thing to do – you took advice. The independent advice that you were given was that there was absolutely nothing to prohibit you from travelling.”

He told the Maloneys they were “not to blame or reproach” themselves “in any way at all” for deciding to go on holiday.

After the hearing, Dominic and Laura thanked Easyjet, Albin, Varty’s Funeral Directors, charity Sands and everyone else who had helped them since Connah’s death.

They highlighted the comfort they had received from a memory bear containing Connah’s ashes and a memory wall at their home.

They said: “We would like people to know that the memory bear is available and hope it can bring as much comfort to them as it has for us.”