{"id":286801,"date":"2026-01-16T02:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T02:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/286801\/"},"modified":"2026-01-16T02:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T02:21:16","slug":"how-new-mother-died-after-home-birth-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/286801\/","title":{"rendered":"How new mother died after home birth \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Laura Liston<\/a> always wanted to be a mother. She was maternal by nature, and a strong believer in social justice, focusing on probation work and increasing visitation rights for women in prison.<\/p>\n

The 36-year-old and her husband Fergal Mannion had met in Galway almost two decades ago, but didn\u2019t start dating until a few years later when they reconnected at a friend\u2019s wedding.<\/p>\n

They spent \u201csix wonderful years\u201d in Dublin before deciding to move to Limerick, where Ms Liston is from, to build a house in Croom, about a 20-minute drive south of Limerick city. <\/p>\n

Engaged in December 2018, they married the following December and decided to start trying for a family.<\/p>\n

However, the pair experienced difficulty conceiving, and underwent fertility treatment, which was successful.<\/p>\n

Their story was told at the Limerick coroner\u2019s court inquest into her death on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

In February 2022, the couple contacted Sandra Healy, a self-employed community midwife working with the HSE, to hear more about potentially having a home birth.<\/p>\n

They completed a risk assessment and application form, and were approved for a home birth. Ms Healy told the court she had multiple appointments with them between their first contact and Ms Liston\u2019s due date in June of that year.<\/p>\n

In his deposition at her inquest, Mr Mannion said on March 18th, Ms Liston became concerned about a bleed and reduced movement of her baby.<\/p>\n

They went for a check-up and were told there was \u201can issue\u201d with the placenta, Mr Mannion said, but he added that they were still approved for a home birth and were not advised of any risks.<\/p>\n

\"CoCo Limerick woman Laura Liston who died after giving birth to her son at home in June 2022. <\/p>\n

[\u00a0Verdict of medical misadventure in death of woman who died after home birthOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

It was early in the morning on Saturday, June 4th, 2022, around 7.30am, when Ms Liston believed her waters broke, the inquest heard.<\/p>\n

She contacted Ms Healy and they had a conversation over the phone. The midwife visited Ms Liston\u2019s house at 11am for an assessment and advised her that labour was \u201cfavourable\u201d that day. <\/p>\n

They remained in touch through the phone throughout the day. Ms Healy contacted another midwife, Sin\u00e9ad Murphy, that afternoon to see if she would be able to attend the birth with her. Ms Murphy confirmed she would attend.<\/p>\n

At 7.11pm, Ms Murphy advised the primary midwife that she had an estimated travel time of 90 minutes between her location and that of the Liston\u2019s house. <\/p>\n

Ms Healy arrived at Ms Liston\u2019s house around 10 minutes later in preparation of the birth. The midwife also contacted the national ambulance service, in line with guidelines, to advise that a home birth was taking place but no ambulance was required at this time.<\/p>\n

Ms Liston was giving birth in a large mobile home that the couple were living in while their house was being built. A number of witnesses at her inquest described the lighting as \u201cdim\u201d during the labour and birth, with Mr Mannion stating there were two or three candles used as light, while Ms Healy said the midwives had a torch. <\/p>\n

The 36-year-old woman was in a birthing pool to help with pain relief. She was advised beforehand that she would not be able to give birth in the pool due to HSE guidance and would have to get out.<\/p>\n

However, just before 11pm, the birth of the child became imminent. The midwives felt it was no longer appropriate to ask Ms Liston to exit the pool. <\/p>\n

Their son was born in the pool at 22.58.<\/p>\n

Ms Liston was asked to try to deliver the placenta in the birthing pool but she had difficulty and was experiencing serious pain.<\/p>\n

At 23.20pm she was asked to exit the pool. When she stood up, Mr Mannion told the inquest, she \u201ccollapsed\u201d and fainted, dropping her newborn into the birthing pool. She also experienced blood loss, low blood pressure and vomiting.<\/p>\n

Ms Liston was moved to a couch nearby. Her husband said she \u201cdid not look well\u201d.<\/p>\n

In response to questions, Ms Healy said \u201cin hindsight\u201d she could have called for a transfer to hospital at this point, but Ms Liston appeared alert and while there was a concern she was unstable, she believed it was \u201creasonable\u201d to wait at that stage.<\/p>\n

Giving evidence at the inquest, Prof Amanda Cotter, consultant obstetrician-gynecologist at University Maternity Hospital Limerick, said that if this had happened in a hospital setting it would have been treated as an \u201cemergency\u201d and a multidisciplinary team would have been called.<\/p>\n

After midnight, the midwives decided to escalate Ms Liston\u2019s care. They called for an ambulance and two arrived, one for the newborn and another for Ms Liston. They were both to be transferred to the maternity hospital at this time.<\/p>\n

Jim Hartnett, one of the paramedics who attended the call, said the water in the birthing pool was a \u201cdark red colour\u201d and had birthing products and clots floating on top.<\/p>\n

He described Ms Liston as being cold, clammy and very pale. He said she called out to him: \u201cHelp me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Andrew Connaughton, a paramedic in the midwest for over 30 years, said: \u201cThe lady\u2019s colour was frightening. I got a fright as soon as I looked at her.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Connaughton was driving the ambulance Ms Liston was in. Ms Healy, the midwife, was also in the ambulance. An obstetrician called the midwife while they were in the ambulance and she provided guidance during the journey to the hospital. Mr Mannion and their son were in the other ambulance.<\/p>\n

There had been conversations in the back of the ambulance about whether the patient should be brought to University Hospital Limerick (UHL) instead of the maternity hospital near the city centre. (UHL is about five km closer to the couple\u2019s home in Croom and was chosen because it has an emergency department and resuscitation unit.)<\/p>\n

\"UniversityUniversity Hospital Limerick <\/p>\n

Mr Connaughton said her condition started \u201cdeteriorating rapidly\u201d and he announced with \u201csome force\u201d they were going to UHL.<\/p>\n

At one point, the ambulance had to pull in at Croom graveyard because Ms Liston had gone into cardiac arrest. They began compressions and her heart started beating again.<\/p>\n

Upon arrival at UHL, Ms Liston went into cardiac arrest again. She was brought to the resuscitation bay but was pronounced dead at 2.15am. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe fought hard for this lady. And we still lost her,\u201d Mr Connaughton said.<\/p>\n

Pathologist Margot Bolster said the cause of death was haemorrhage and shock due to a uterine inversion, a rare and life-threatening complication associated with childbirth.<\/p>\n

In Ms Liston\u2019s case, the placenta had grown into the uterine wall, she said, which resulted in the difficulty in delivering the placenta after her son was born. <\/p>\n

At the inquest, the HSE read out an \u201cunreserved\u201d apology for the \u201cfailings in care\u201d in respect of Ms Liston\u2019s death.<\/p>\n

The inquest returned a verdict of medical misadventure<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the immediate aftermath of her death, the HSE suspended home births in the midwest region covering Limerick, Clare and north Tipperary and commissioned an external review into her care. <\/p>\n

They remain suspended pending \u201cfull implementation\u201d of recommendations arising from this review, which included national policies, resourcing, recruitment, education and training.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt present, and following ongoing clinical and operational review, the HSE Mid West and University Maternity Hospital Limerick (UMHL) are not in a position to safely reinstate a home birth service,\u201d the spokesman added.<\/p>\n

\u201cReinstatement of home birth services will require the establishment of a sustainable model with adequate numbers of appropriately trained and experienced midwives, clear clinical governance arrangements, and alignment with national policy and best practice.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ScarlettScarlett Griffin O’Sullivan, solicitor of the family of Laura Liston, speaking outside the coroner’s court in Kilmallock, next to Laura’s husband Fergal Mannion, her father John and mother Fiona Liston, and sisters Jennifer and Sarah Liston. Photograph: Brendan Gleeson <\/p>\n

In a statement read outside of the coroner\u2019s court by the family\u2019s solicitor Scarlett Griffin O\u2019Sullivan on Wednesday, they said Ms Liston\u2019s case was \u201cnot about being pro or anti home births\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe inquest highlights the urgent need to ensure basic clinical standards and protocols are followed in maternity care, which are unfortunately lacking in Laura\u2019s case with fatal consequences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Two-thirds of healthcare workers \u2018actively\u2019 considering leaving role, study findsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Laura Liston always wanted to be a mother. She was maternal by nature, and a strong believer in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":283990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,6,60,19,17,11,12,1844,15,16,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-286801","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-headlines","14":"tag-hse","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-limerick","20":"tag-main-news","21":"tag-mainnews","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115902394112291228","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286801","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=286801"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/286801\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/283990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=286801"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=286801"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=286801"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}