A baby died at less than a week old, having been born by emergency caesarean section, an inquest in Brighton has been told.
Olivia Trupiano was born at 34 weeks on Saturday 14 September last year at the Princess Royal Hospital, in Haywards Heath.
She died at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, in Brighton, on Thursday 19 September.
Coroner’s officer Chris Nicola gave a brief statement as coroner Joanne Andrews opened and adjourned the inquest into Olivia’s death at the coroner’s court at Woodvale, in Brighton.
Mr Nicola set out the basic details of Olivia’s brief life as her parents, Kimberley Newark and Yann Trupiano, listened in court during the short hearing.
The coroner’s officer said that the decision to deliver Olivia by an emergency caesarean section was taken because her mother suffered a burst blood vessel known as a ruptured splenic artery aneurysm.
The court was told that the family had concerns about the timing of the diagnosis of the ruptured artery.
Olivia was born with severe hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy.
The condition occurs in a baby when the brain does not receive enough oxygen or blood flow at around the time of birth.
Olivia was transferred to the Royal Sussex but, less than a week after she was born, she died.
The coroner said that she had reasons to suspect that Olivia’s death was “unnatural” and was therefore under a obligation to hold an inquest.
She said, at the hearing on Thursday (10 July) that she would require statements from doctors and other clinical staff.
The inquest was adjourned, provisionally until Thursday 6 November at 2pm.
