The inquest, in the Cork city coroner\u2019s court, heard that the pregnancy had become complicated by worsening intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy, sometimes called ICP, a liver condition associated with an increased risk of stillbirth.<\/p>\n
CUMH offered its \u201cheartfelt sympathies and deepest condolences\u201d to Amy and Jason, saying: \u201cWe recognise that there was [sic] missed opportunities in the care provided to you.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not underestimate how traumatic this has been for you and your family and we are truly sorry for what occurred.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Connie would have been the first child, grandchild, and great-grandchild in his family, and Amy, a healthcare assistant, and Jason, a truck driver, were \u201cexcited and nervous\u201d to discover they were expecting a baby.<\/p>\n
When they learned they were having a boy, they chose the name Connie.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were already building a little personality for him,\u201d Amy said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jason started buying \u201clittle truck jackets and car jackets and T-shirts\u201d.<\/p>\n
It was toward the 35th week that Amy developed an itch in her hands and feet.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On March 31, 2025, the midwifery clinic in Carrigtwohill diagnosed obstetric cholestasis and referred her immediately to CUMH.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There, various tests were performed, and the diagnosis of cholestasis was confirmed. Amy was prescribed an antihistamine for the itching.<\/p>\n
Cholestasis occurs where bile ducts are blocked, and bile levels rise in the placenta. Symptoms can include severe itching for the mother.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On April 3, at 36 weeks and three days gestation, testing in CUMH\u2019s foetal assessment unit showed Amy had bile acid levels of 57\u00b5mol\/L. Levels of 100\u00b5mol\/L are deemed severe.<\/p>\n
A plan was made for induction of labour on April 17.<\/p>\n
Blood tests on April 4 showed that Amy\u2019s bile acids had risen to 67\u00b5mol\/L. On April 10, at 37 weeks and four days gestation, Amy attended the clinic, reporting worsening itch symptoms.<\/p>\n
A bedside ultrasound showed good foetal movement, normal amniotic fluid, and normal foetal growth. However, no repeat bile acid testing was performed.<\/p>\n
In evidence to the inquest, consultant obstetrician Dr Anne de Haan said it was unknown whether testing then \u201cwould have changed the outcome for baby Connie [but] it was a missed opportunity for intervention\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5083644_18_articleinlinemobile_EXM_2506.jpeg\" "\\"The")
The hallway of Amy and Jason Barry\u2019s home in Cobh features a large portrait of their son Connie. Picture: Chani Anderson<\/p>\n
On Monday, April 14, Amy experienced cramps, and thought she was having contractions. She and Jason went to the CUMH ED, where a nurse tried to find Connie\u2019s heartbeat.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was complete silence, and that\u2019s when we were told \u2018I\u2019m sorry, there\u2019s no heartbeat’. You\u2019re shattered. You\u2019re thinking \u2018How is there no heartbeat?\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI remember the nurse putting her arms around me and saying she\u2019s so sorry, and I remember the doctor having his hand on me and saying he\u2019s so sorry, but after that moment, I don\u2019t remember much until I was brought up to a ward.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Connie was delivered at 1.19pm on Tuesday, April 15. Amy said she kept waiting for Connie to cry and it never came.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was put on my chest, and Jason cut the cord.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Jason dressed Connie in baby clothes, describing it as \u201cthe hardest moment of my life, but at the same time it was so precious, because he was my son. You were crying but you were smiling too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When Amy was brought to her room, a cool cot, supplied by the charity F\u00e9ileac\u00e1in, the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Association of Ireland, was waiting for Connie.<\/p>\n
Amy described it as \u201cbasically a Moses basket, but with icepacks underneath for Connie, to preserve him\u201d. It allowed them time to bond with Connie.<\/p>\n
That Friday, Amy and Jason tucked Connie into his little white coffin with his teddy bears and his blanket, and, in their own car, they brought him to the crematorium in Ringaskiddy.<\/p>\n
Last week, Cork city coroner Philip Comyn recorded a narrative verdict for Connie’s death.<\/p>\n
He found the cause of death to be \u201cof uncertain aetiology, but with evidence of foetal vascular malperfusion due to nuchal cord, and also of delayed recognition of worsening intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cNuchal cord\u201d relates to the umbilical cord becoming wrapped around a baby\u2019s neck, and vascular malperfusion occurs when the baby does not get enough blood flow through the placenta.<\/p>\n
Amy and Jason say the first they knew that this had happened to Connie was last month, when they read a statement from Dr de Haan saying Connie had been born with \u201cnuchal cord tight around neck twice\u201d.<\/p>\n
The CUMH apology said the hospital did \u201cnot underestimate how traumatic\u201d Connie’s death was, but the year since Connie\u2019s death has also been traumatic for Amy and Jason.<\/p>\n
A freedom of information request for Amy’s medical records was not progressed for 11 months, requiring an intervention from her solicitor, Darren Fitzgerald of Orbitus Law.<\/p>\n
A serious incident management team review at CUMH identified \u201cmissed opportunities\u201d in Amy\u2019s care. The family was not informed about the review until the night before the inquest.<\/p>\n
CUMH has promised to introduce new protocols around the management of cholestasis, \u201cwithin six weeks\u201d, and Doireann O\u2019Mahony, barrister for the family, asked that the coroner request those protocols be named in honour of Connie.<\/p>\n
Mr Comyn said it was \u201ca good idea\u201d but it was not within his remit to make such a request.<\/p>\n
For Amy and Jason, they feel that if any good is to come of Connie\u2019s death, it would be that awareness of cholestasis would be raised, and the lives of other babies might be saved.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you\u2019re pregnant, you\u2019re asked the basics: any headaches, any swelling, any blurred vision, but you\u2019re never asked about an itch, and that\u2019s where cholestasis comes in,\u201d Amy said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMaybe the next woman who has an itch during pregnancy will think of Connie and get help straight away, and maybe Connie will help to save a life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Connie has a little brother now, Tadgh, a rainbow baby whose first cries four weeks ago came after a long, breaths-held silence.<\/p>\n
Amy and Jason say Connie will watch over Tadgh as he grows in the embrace of his family, protected by the memory of a brother who never had the chance to know him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amy Barry doesn\u2019t like the word \u2018stillborn\u2019, preferring to say that her baby boy Connie was born sleeping…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":454291,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[79,61,60,43],"class_list":["post-454290","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-cork-news","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454290","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=454290"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/454290\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/454291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=454290"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=454290"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=454290"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}