‘Absolutely perfect’ newborn baby died from missed ‘hole in the heart’ after mum spotted her eyelid twitching
ESME Atkinson was just one month old when she died due to a "hole in her heart" - which was only discovered during a post-mortem examination.
The newborn's condition led to a bleed on her brain, an inquest has heard.
Esme's mum Ellen Roberts recalled the moment she found out she was going to lose her baby daughter.
"The doctors came out to us and said they've been working on her for half an hour," Esme said at an inquest hearing at South Manchester Coroner's Court.
"They said: 'Your baby's going to die', which is the worst thing you can say to anyone."
A post-mortem examination found Esme had a ventricular septal defect (VSD), reports .
Read more on heart defects
VSD is a congenital heart defect where there's a hole in the wall (septum) that separates the two lower chambers (ventricles) of the heart.
The condition makes it more difficult for blood to be pumped efficiently around the body.
Senior coroner Alison Mutch OBE heard while neither of her parents had any congenital conditions, Ellen's identical twin sister had been diagnosed with a heart condition.
Esme was born on February 7 2024 and just six hours after her birth was taken to the neonatal unit.
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While doctors were worried about her oxygen levels, Ellen described her daughter as "absolutely perfect".
When she was two days old, Esme was sent for an X-ray.
But consultant paediatric radiologist Dr Rob Hawkes told the court Esme's VSD couldn't be seen on an X-ray, as the type of image it produced would only show an "enlarged" heart rather than the detail required to identify the condition.
Shortly after Esme was discharged and returned home with her parents, Ellen and Esme's dad Louis Atkinson.
Initially, she appeared a normal newborn, but then Ellen and Louis noticed she started to feed less.
On March 6, Esme "projectile vomited across the room" after being fed.
A midwife visited the following day as part of a routine visit and advised them to take her to the GP as Esme looked unusually pale and to be "better safe than sorry".
The doctor looked into Esme's blood but found they hadn't been done.
But Ellen revealed she was none the wiser to what was going on.
On March 17, Ellen had been struggling to get her daughter to take from the bottle, and noticed something seemed off.
She said: "When she was feeding I looked down and her right eyelid was twitching. I thought maybe there was something in her eye so I wiped it with some cotton wool.
"About an hour or so later she had done it again. She had never done that before."
After confiding in a group chat for new parents, Ellen decided to take Esme to hospital, arriving at Stepping Hill around 6:30pm.
She was seen after 15 minutes, which Ellen had thought was good, until a nurse said Esme "should have been seen as soon as you came in".
Esme was placed on oxygen and CPR was carried out.
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But despite doctors' efforts, Esme passed away on March 17 2024.
The inquest continues.
Ventricular septal defect (VSD) symptoms
A VSD usually causes no signs or symptoms.
The blood flowing through the hole can create a swishing noise. This is called a heart murmur.
Doctors can hear a heart murmur when they listen to your heart with a stethoscope.
In rare cases, a VSD may cause signs and symptoms in children, such as:
- shortness of breath, especially when exercising
- being very tired
- being underweight and growing slowly
- irregular or extra heart beats, called arrhythmias.
Adults with a VSD may also have signs and symptoms, such as:
- shortness of breath, especially when exercising
- you may not be able to exercise for long
- feeling very tired
- irregular or extra heart beats, called arrhythmias
- fainting.
If you have any of these symptoms, speak to your doctor.
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