Mum of tragic Jaxon McVey hits out at second baby death four years after her son’s ‘preventable’ stillbirth

A maternity unit criticised for the preventable stillbirth of a baby is under investigation after the unexpected death of a second baby.

The newborn baby died in December last year after her birth at the standalone midwifery-led unit (MLU) at Lagan Valley Hospital in Lisburn.

Despite this, the unit continued to operate as normal for another three months when the South Eastern Trust temporarily paused births at the MLU.

The second tragedy came four years after Jaxon McVey was stillborn when his delivery at the unit went catastrophically wrong.

A post-mortem found he died as a result of shoulder dystocia – an obstetric emergency where the head is born but the shoulder becomes trapped behind the pubic bone.

Jaxon’s mum, Christine McCleery, has hit out at the South Eastern Trust and raised concerns over the measures put in place following his stillbirth on Mother’s Day 2017.

“I feel like they didn’t learn from Jaxon,” she said.

“I don’t know if any other babies died before Jaxon, but I know one died afterwards.

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Source: The Independent, 23 November 2022