Tragic Rahat: family awaits ruling

THE grieving family of a baby who died after being deprived of oxygen in the hours before his birth must wait up to three weeks for a coroner’s verdict.

Rahat Qayyam was born at the Royal Oldham Hospital on July 5, 2013, and spent 14 days on life support before his family agreed to it being switched off.

Shazia, Rahat’s mother, had been at the hospital for a number of hours before his birth and doctors had concerns that the baby’s heart rate and his airways could be blocked.

An emergency Caesarian section was performed and doctors found the baby’s airways were blocked. Though taken straight to intensive care, the lack of oxygen had severely damaged his vital organs and caused brain damage.

His inquest, at Heywood Coroner’s Court, resumed yesterday and heard a number of concerns following an internal hospital investigation.

Dr Caroline Rice of North Manchester General Hospital, helped to conduct the investigation and told the coroner several members of staff involved in treating Mrs Qayyam didn’t have up-to-date training in reading scans. The inquest had previously revealed scans can be interpreted in different ways and guidelines on analysis weren’t always clear.

Dr Rice said the trust has since reviewed its guidelines and made significant improvements.

Coroner Lisa Hashmi revealed she will be writing to the Department of Health to suggest the issue is addressed nationally.

The case also presented delays as the non-English-speaking Mrs Qayyam had to wait for the arrival of an interpreter to understand what was to happen.

Mrs Hashmi will write a narrative conclusion to the hearing within the next 21 days