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LUCINDA CREIGHTON HAS said that if mothers at the Midlands Hospital in Portlaoise had received the same care she did, their babies would still be alive.
The Renua Ireland leader said she is acutely aware of the problems faced by the women who lost their babies in Portlaoise, as she had a “very difficult labour” when giving birth to her daughter Gwendoline last year.
Creighton told Oireachtas health committee her baby’s heart rate dropped and things went “seriously wrong”.
“Thankfully I was under the fantastic care of Professor Mick Foley and an amazing team in Holles Street. But all that went through my mind during that experience was ‘Thank God I’m in Holles Street’ – the staff, the care, the attention to detail. And, ultimately, when things went really, really seriously wrong, they saved my baby’s life.
The reality is if the level of care that I received had been afforded to the families in Portlaoise, their babies would also be alive – and that’s a really stark reality, and one that I find very deeply upsetting frankly.
Creighton introduced some of the parents from Portlaoise to the health committee when she was eight months pregnant.
Four medical staff from hospital have been referred for possible disciplinary action after a number of babies died in recent years.
Creighton said She would take Health Minister Leo Varadkar on his word when he said the Hiqa report into maternity services at the Midlands Hospital won’t be another one “that sits on a shelf”.
However, she added that as this fate has happened to “so many” reports on healthcare “it’s difficult to have confidence that anything will be different on this occasion”.
Creighton also said that it should be mandatory for all maternity hospitals to report babies’ deaths, saying hospitals and individuals who fail to do so should face criminal liability.
She noted that a 2014 report by Dr Tony Holohan showed that perinatal mortality statistics are “completely inaccurate”, adding: ”A voluntary system doesn’t work.”
Varadkar conceded the statistics “unfortunately give false reassurance”.
Earlier in the meeting, he said was “ashamed” of how families whose babies died at Portlaoise Hospital were treated.
The health minister said they had been treated “without respect, care and compassion when they most needed it, by members of my own profession and other professions”.
Patients and their families were treated dreadfully and at times inhumanely.
On Wednesday, Varadkar met bereaved parents to hear about their experiences.
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I totally believe and trust them, that’s fantastic news!!!
@Stephen Duggan: not sure why you think this is good news, they found that only 40% of people who were infected developed neutralising antibodies, which prevent reinfection. It means 60% were still vulnerable to reinfection. It shows that herd immunity isn’t possible with SARS-CoV-2, and there’s the additional fact that immunity wears off after 6 months. This agrees with research in the Denmark (before the new variants arrived) that found that immunity to reinfection was just 47% for people over 65, about 6 months after recovery from COVID-19.
Ref.:
@David Jordan: i believe it was sarcasm, David. Anyway, if only 40% of people develop long lasting antibodies, and if protection from second infection was due to antibodies only, there would have been many thousands of second infections in this country alone by now, which there has not been. From what I have read, it seems that the answer is that the presence of long-lasting T-cells is the reason that so few people get reinfected. The study referred to here did not look at T-cells, yet they confidently announced that mass vaccination is needed die to low levels of antibodies. Why? Indirect links to vaccine manufacturers may explain some of this.
@Jason Shortt: I know it was sarcasm, but it did no favor to the findings of the research which are quite serious.
The findings inform the debate on whether we can cocoon and attain herd immunity (Sweden and early UK approach) or we have to socially distance and flatten the curve to prevent excess deaths and wait to escape restrictions via vaccination (which offer much more robust and longer lasting immunity than natural infection).
“T-cells is the reason that so few people get reinfected.”
No. T-cells do not prevent reinfection, antibodies prevent infection. T-cells fight an infection after it is established. T-cells, for example, prevent infected cells from infecting neighboring cells, they help reduce vial levels. It is proposed that T Cells may increase the odds that a Reinfection will be milder than the first.
However, this is not what we are seeing.
The ongoing outbreak in Brazil is reinfecting people in areas previously measured to have attained “herd immunity” e.g. Manaus (Sabino et al., 2021), and the fatality rate / severity is not ameliorated by the hypothesised existence of T Cells from previous infection.
In fact, there’s evidence that that 2nd infections are more severe (Dos Santos et al., 2021). Increases virulence (lethality) and infectiousness is why Brazil is now experiencing it’s most severe outbreak yet.
https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=brazil+covid
“Recurrent episodes tended to be more severe, with one fatal infection.”
Ref.:
Sabino, E.C., Buss, L.F., Carvalho, M.P., Prete, C.A., Crispim, M.A., Fraiji, N.A., Pereira, R.H., Parag, K.V., da Silva Peixoto, P., Kraemer, M.U. and Oikawa, M.K., 2021. Resurgence of COVID-19 in Manaus, Brazil, despite high seroprevalence. The Lancet, 397(10273), pp.452-455.
Dos Santos, L.A., de Góis Filho, P.G., Silva, A.M.F., Santos, J.V.G., Santos, D.S., Aquino, M.M., de Jesus, R.M., Almeida, M.L.D., da Silva, J.S., Altmann, D.M. and Boyton, R.J., 2021. Recurrent COVID-19 including evidence of reinfection and enhanced severity in thirty Brazilian healthcare workers. Journal of Infection.
‘ The extraordinary rapid, and effective control measures implemented in Wuhan………..’
@Padraic O Sullivan: Like welding apartment block doors shut, that’s some lockdown
Ah the Chinese, a great bunch of lads
I stopped reading at “a Chinese study said….”
@TonyB: China publish half the papers on Pubmed your realise….
Finally, a totally independent research body with no links to the WHO (an organisation partially funded by the pharmaceutical industry) declares that “mass vaccination” is the only way out of the pandemic. Oh….wait a minute….they run six ‘WHO collaborating centers ‘ and they are a member of the M8 Alliance, the main advisors to the World Health Summit, which is run by the WHO. Vaccinate the vulnerable and leave the rest of us alone.
Can it be trusted? Would u trust them?
@Bart O Brien: What about all the different strains that has developed after Wuhan? Of course I want to Believe!
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