Unborn baby dies after urgent scan results sent to ‘nowhere’

The mother was 41 weeks’ pregnant when the scan picked up low amniotic fluid. Photo / 123rf

The results of an urgent scan for an overdue baby with medical concerns were sent to “nowhere”, resulting in a stillbirth that could have potentially been avoided.
The devastating outcome led the first-time mother to file a complaint with the Health and Disciplinary Commission to ensure the system makes changes and incidents like this never happen again.
Now, the Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner has found Pacific Radiology and the midwife breached the woman’s right to care by not sending the scan through and not following up on it.
“I extend my heartfelt condolences to Ms A and her partner for the loss of their precious baby daughter, Baby A,” Deputy Commissioner Rose Wall said in a decision released today.
She said the findings of the scan were significant and required priority communication to the midwife but a “coding error” meant they weren’t sent.
“I am highly critical that Pacific Radiology was aware that it was using an IT system that held ‘empty’ codes, which, if selected, would result in the report in question going ‘nowhere’.
“I am also critical that it appears that no checking systems or policies were in place for such cases … whether that be within the system itself, and/or follow-up by frontline staff.”
The 2021 pregnancy was largely uneventful though earlier scans showed a low-lying placenta and slowing growth in the lower percentile.
At 41 weeks, Ms A went in for a scan at Pacific Radiology, where the radiologist noted growth was in the 16th percentile and there was oligohydramnios (low amniotic fluid).
“This was categorised as an ‘unexpected finding’ that could result in significant morbidity if not treated appropriately.”
He marked the report as urgent and assumed the report would be sent to the midwife, despite an internal policy that required action for critical results.
However, the wrong code was entered when the report was being sent and the results essentially went nowhere.
The radiologist did not follow up, and although the midwife was wondering where the scan was and consistently refreshing her phone for updates, she failed to chase it up.
Days later, Ms A noticed her baby was not moving as much and she began spotting. When she called her midwife, she told her to monitor her movements for the next hour.
She then retrieved the scan results and immediately referred her client to the hospital.
Unfortunately, that came too late and Ms A’s baby girl was born stillborn.
At a hearing before Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner Rose Wall, Pacific Radiology, the radiologist and the midwife all gave evidence.
The radiologist said he made assumptions that Ms A would advise her midwife about the findings and also assumed the scan would make its way to her.
“I consider that amniotic fluid volume of (what was at the time incorrectly noted as) 0.8mm should have prompted urgent action to such or at least a similar degree.
“The fact that no phone call was made on Month 9, nor the following day, has not been explained adequately.
“Although the sonographer’s and radiologist’s assumption that Ms A would be in touch with [the midwife] on the day of the scan was not wrong, their expectation that Ms A would convey the relevant clinical findings was unfounded and should not have been expected of the patient,” Wall said in her decision.
Wall also found several failings with the midwife in her failure to follow up on results and advice when Ms A noticed her baby had limited movement.
When Ms A reported spotting and unclear fetal movements, the midwife did not immediately arrange for her to be assessed, as current guidelines recommend for symptoms of decreased fetal movements.
Instead, the advice to monitor the baby’s movements for an hour and call back if concerns persisted was no longer considered best practice, the decision said.
The Deputy Health and Disability Commissioner found the midwife breached the Code of Health and Disability Services Consumers’ Rights for failing to provide services with reasonable care and skill.
Her actions were considered a moderate departure from accepted midwifery practice, though her assumptions were partly mitigated by her reliance on prior experiences and systemic issues at Pacific Radiology.
Pacific Radiologists were also in breach because of a flawed IT system, failure to communicate and inadequate policies around urgent findings.
Pacific Radiologists were ordered to issue a written apology, implement daily checks to reports and add safeguards to prioritise urgent cases.
Since the incident, Pacific Radiology has made several changes to address the systemic issues that contributed to the communication failure.
Chief medical officer for Pacific Radiology, Adrian Balasingam, told NZME the technical issues with reporting had now been resolved and will not recur.
“Firstly, Pacific Radiology extends again its heartfelt apologies to the patient and their family for the tragic loss of their baby.
“Pacific Radiology has recently updated its Communication of Actionable Imaging Findings Policy for Radiologists, aligning it with international best practices to ensure urgent communication of life or limb-threatening conditions to the clinicians caring for their patients.
“The radiologist involved in this case was devastated by the outcome and has since adapted their practice. Pacific Radiology is constantly striving for clinical excellence, and we regret that we did not meet this standard in this instance,” Balasingam said.
Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei-based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.