Cork mother given wrong newborn baby in mix-up at hospital settles High Court action

A newborn mix-up at Cork University Hospital meant that a mother was given the wrong baby.

CUH has pledged to issue a formal apology to the parent.

The mix-up came to light as the 39-year-old Cork mother sued the HSE in the High Court.

It is understood that the incident only lasted a short time.

New mum Catherine Shine thought she was being handed her three-day-old daughter Hannah Kate after she had been looked after in the hospital nursery overnight.

But she “had a feeling” and knew by the baby that she wasn’t her daughter.

When she checked the name tag, it was another baby, not Hannah Kate.

In the High Court yesterday, Catherine Shine, from Kiskeam, Mallow, settled a legal action against the HSE over the incident at CUH four years ago.

Her counsel, Richard Kean SC, instructed by PBN Litigation, told the court that the case had been resolved.

He said a formal apology will be sent to Ms Shine and her family, and the wording which had been agreed with the HSE did not need to be said in open court.

Liability was admitted in the case. The details of the settlement are confidential.

Outside court, Ms Shine, who stood with her solicitor Piarais Neary, said she was happy the legal proceedings had concluded.

“Hopefully this won’t happen again, and the hospital has brought in measures to avoid this from happening in the future,” she said.

Asked how she discovered that it wasn’t her daughter who had been brought to her from the hospital nursery, she said she knew “when I looked at her — I just had that feeling”.

She added: “I picked her up because she was crying. I had that feeling. I did the checks.

“I knew she wasn’t mine — she was crying and there were a number of factors that went with it. I just checked the tag.”

Ms Shine, who also has a son, said it was “very upsetting” and she did not want it to happen to any other mother.

She said by taking the legal action, she was “trying to bring a light” on the situation and to get an apology.

She added: “I got the apology and I’m glad it’s over.

“I don’t want it to happen to any mother. It’s an awful thing not to get the right baby or have your child go missing.

“I am just happy with the result.”

Ms Shine had been admitted to the hospital and her baby girl Hannah Kate was born by emergency caesarean section on September 8, 2021.

Mother and baby were kept in hospital and, on the night before their discharge, Hannah Kate was taken to the hospital nursery and cared for overnight there.

The following day, September 11, 2021, Ms Shine asked for her baby but was given another mother’s baby.

Ms Shine began to notice that the baby appeared to be different to her own daughter, and the baby cried and began to vomit.

Ms Shine, when she inspected the baby, noticed that the security tag confirmed it wasn’t her baby.

In the proceedings, it was claimed that there was a failure to take any, or any reasonable, care for the safety of the mother and baby, and it was further contended that Ms Shine had been subjected to a substandard level of care.

There was, it was claimed, a failure to have any adequate system of checks and balances in place to ensure that the mother of a newborn baby would not have her baby mixed up and then given to someone else.

It was also alleged there was a failure to ensure that babies placed in the nursery were checked as to their correct identity before being brought back to their correct mother on the ward or room.

Noting the settlement, Ms Justice Emily Egan congratulated the parties on resolving the matter.