Nottingham placenta error hampered baby death probe - coroner

A coroner says an investigation into the death of a newborn baby at a hospital was compromised by the way the placenta was dealt with.

Quinn Lias Parker was born at Nottingham's City Hospital in July 2021 but died two days later from multiple organ failure.

It later emerged the placenta was dissected by pathology staff when it should have been preserved.

Hospital bosses said procedures had since been revised.

An inquest into Quinn's death, held in April, returned a narrative verdict. 

After Quinn's birth, Ms Studencki's placenta was sent from the hospital's maternity unit to pathology, where it was dissected - meaning it was cut up for examination. 

But Dr Elizabeth Didcock, assistant coroner for Nottinghamshire, said the dissection meant the post-mortem examination was compromised.

In a prevention of future deaths report, she detailed how Quinn was born in a "poor condition" and there was a "high probability that he would not survive" and therefore "thought needed to be given to the preservation of the placenta" to ensure it could be used in an examination.

"It is not clear to me exactly how the placenta was cut into after Quinn's death without discussion with the coroner," she said.

"What is clear is that the outcome has been highly detrimental to the independent investigation by the coroner and other agencies investigating the circumstances of this case.

"This death follows a number of similar early neonatal deaths in Nottingham, where the placenta has not been retained, and therefore key information regarding placental pathology has been lost."