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When baby Ross Wadsworth was born, his umbilical cord was wrapped three times around his neck and he was thought to be dead, in a case which has led to criticism of the obstetrician who delivered him.
A new Auckland District Court judgment confirms that Dr Ramesh Vrajlal Vasant committed a medical error by failing to carry out the caesarean delivery of Ross sooner.
It is one of three error findings, involving maternity cases, against South African-trained Dr Vasant by the Accident Compensation Corporation.
Ross, delivered at West Auckland's Waitakere Hospital in September 2003, was resuscitated but suffered brain damage from an oxygen shortage before birth. The court decision reported a medical opinion that he was doing well at six weeks, but the "outlook in terms of neurological impairment must be guarded".
Judge Martin Beattie ruled that Ross was "in trouble" from 1.30pm on the day he was born. Dr Vasant failed to take proper action after one midwife expressed her serious concerns to him about the baby at 2pm and after another provided advice at 3.40pm.
At 4pm Dr Vasant saw the mother, who requested an immediate caesarean. He arranged one, but Ross was not delivered until 5.07pm.
"The events which occurred after [4pm], I find, are in fact a continuation of the failure of Dr Vasant to appreciate the urgency of the situation," the judge said.
Of the other two babies, one, the second of twins, died within a fortnight of delivery at Whakatane in 2002, in a case which also led to criticism of an anaesthetist and the Bay of Plenty District Health Board by Health and Disability Commissioner Ron Paterson.
The third baby suffered brain damage after a difficult labour and birth at Rotorua Hospital. In this case, the commissioner criticised Dr Vasant over his ante-natal care, but not the labour and birth. He also criticised the hospital.
Mr Paterson, in his July 2004 decision on the Whakatane case, urged the Medical Council to review Dr Vasant's competence. The council started the process three months later but it was halted after Dr Vasant, who shifted to Australia, handed in his medical licence in February 2005. It will be restarted if he wants to work here again.
The council last issued a "certificate of good standing" - a document doctors typically need to register in a new country - in April 2002; it was valid for three months.
Mr Paterson yesterday reiterated his call, first made following his damning report on Czech-born Dr Roman Hasil and Wanganui Hospital last month, for Australian and New Zealand medical authorities to improve their sharing of information about matters such as competence reviews and formal inquiries into medical mistakes.
Dr Hasil, now suspended in Australia, shifted there after allegations of a string of failed operations on women in 2005-2006 in Wanganui.
Dr Vasant works at Frankston Hospital in Melbourne, where a spokesman said he had been stood down from caring for women in labour - because this was what the court case was about - while he undergoes closer supervision and support, but he was still permitted to perform surgical births.
