Inquest hears aspiration of milk factor in death of 3 month old from Donegal

Aspiration of milk was a factor in the death of a three-month-old baby from Donegal who became ‘inconsolable’ following a feed.
Baby Cormac Lafferty was born with a congenital heart condition in June 2016 and received open-heart surgery a month after his birth, placing a shunt to direct blood from the heart to the lungs.
Following open-heart surgery, Cormac, whose condition was diagnosed with Tetralogy of Fallot returned home to Castlefin where he is said to have thrived alongside his twin Callum.
His mother Anne-Marie Lafferty returned to Our Lady’s Hospital, Crumlin with Cormac in September 2016 for a check-up, he was then admitted due to concerns over his oxygen saturation levels.
A nurse woke the infant to feed him at 4am on 10 September. He didn’t finish the feed and became unsettled and began ‘crying inconsolably.’
Morphine was administered to help him relax and at 4.45am staff sought assistance as his oxygen saturation levels dropped to 55% then 33%.
At 6.20am the infant’s condition deteriorated rapidly when his oxygen saturation levels dropped to 20%.
Pediatric cardiologist Dr Damien Kenny told the inquest that Cormac’s desaturations were intermittent rather than persistent and the medical team were ‘not entirely sure what the cause of this was’.
Cormac died before noon on 10 September 2016.
The inquest heard the cause of death was connected to the baby’s heart defect and the aspiration of milk.
The case continues.