Coroner tells parents to be checked following tragic baby death
THE mother of a two-month-old baby who died of a suspected heart condition has criticised her two-year wait for an inquest.
Beverley Haffenden, of Winchelsea Road, paid tribute to her daughter, Alisha Ransom, at an inquest on Wednesday, but asked why she had to wait so long for closure.
Alisha died at the Conquest Hospital on May 18, 2008, after being admitted with severe brain damage caused through lack of oxygen.
Her inquest was twice delayed by a key medical witness being called away, and the severe weather earlier this year.
Speaking after the inquest, Beverley said: "It's a blessing that we had her for what little time we did.
"And the time we had, we will remember.
"We have waited two years for this. It's too long. And we still don't really know what killed her."
Born three weeks early at just 4lb 9oz, little Alisha quickly began to reject her food and develop a chesty cough.
On May 4, she was rushed to Evelina Children's Hospital, London, described by paramedics as limp, floppy and fitting.
With no evidence of physical abuse or neglect, doctors could not decide what finally stopped air reaching her brain.
Coroner Alan Craze said: "The chances of a baby coming out for six weeks and coming back with catastrophic brain damage are very rare.
"It would be good if I could go to the family and say, this is what has caused this tragic death, but I cannot."
Recording a verdict of natural causes, the coroner warned Beverley and father Dean Ransom, an unemployed car mechanic, to be checked for possible genetic conditions, saying: "It's either something of the heart or the brain and both of those have implications for other members of the family.
"Given what the doctor has said in relation to Alisha it would be foolish not to get it checked out, even though there's almost certainly nothing to find."
"I have no means of knowing the extent of the devastation you two have suffered, but it's there and I recognise it."
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Thursday 09 February 2012
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