KEY POINTS:
The mother of the slain Kahui twins left the intensive care unit with one of her sons even though he was drawing his last breath.
Macsyna King, 31, picked baby Cru from his tiny hospital bed and went to walk outside because she thought he needed fresh air.
Dr Fiona Miles said she was told by a nurse that Ms King had taken Cru and was heading outside. Dr Miles "raced" to stop her and meet her at the doors.
"I intercepted her and asked what she was doing... she told me she wanted to take him outside for some fresh air."
Dr Miles said it was inappropriate and asked her to stop.
"She told me I wasn't being compassionate and didn't understand."
To defuse the "unusual and tense" situation Dr Miles agreed they could walk a few steps and then turn around and return to intensive care.
The revelation came after questioning from defence lawyer Michelle Wilkinson-Smith. Mrs Smith asked her if she had ever come across a scene like it before.
Dr Miles said she had never heard of anything like the incident before.
Crown prosecutor Simon Mount asked Dr Miles - who sees parents of dying children regularly at hospital - what factors determined how parents reacted to their sick and dying children.
Dr Miles said there were many factors including whether or not the death was sudden and what support systems were in place.
Both parents were at times upset and tearful, she said.
Earlier, a senior doctor rejected claims the Kahui twins were injured by their one year-old brother.
Dr Alan Drage, a consultant paediatrician at Kids First children's hospital, has told the High Court at Auckland murder trial of the twins father Chris Kahui, the injuries could not have been caused by a one year-old child.
The Crown alleges Kahui squeezed the boys so tightly their ribs popped and then slammed them against a hard surface. He denies this and says someone else, probably Ms King, the twins' mother, caused the babies fatal wounds.
Before the twins were taken to hospital baby Cru stopped breathing and baby Chris bore a fresh bruise. Kahui told Ms King that their other son, one year-old Shane, had crawled into the nursery and "got at" the boys.
Ms King took the boys to hospital the next morning and repeated the explanation to hospital staff.
But in evidence that was read to the jury yesterday, Dr Drage said he didn't think Shane could have inflicted the injuries.
"Taking into account Shane's age, size, strength and developmental status, I am quite certain that Shane could not have inflicted the injuries sustained by his younger brothers," Dr Drage's statement said.
Other medical staff gave evidence yesterday on the demeanour of Ms King when she brought the twins to Middlemore Hospital on June 13, 2006.
Dr Wendy Clark, clinical director at Kids First children's hospital, said Ms King seemed "wary and defensive" when told the Kahui twins had brain damage and that hospital staff had called police.
Dr Clark said CT scans revealed the twins conditions were the result of injuries and not some medical condition.
She told Ms King this and asked how this could have occurred.
"She said their older child had pulled them [the twins] against the bars of the cot," Dr Walker said.
Dr Walker said police being called in these sorts of circumstances was not uncommon and Ms King was told this.
Mr Mount asked the doctor what Ms King's behavioural and emotional response was when told of the dire situation the babies were in.
"She became upset. I think she started crying at that stage....She asked for cultural support and patient advocate [and] seemed wary and defensive."
Later, it was decided the babies needed to be taken to Starship Hospital in Auckland.
Dr Carl Horsley said Ms King refused to travel to Starship Hospital with the critically ill babies even when told that they could die on the way.
