A MUM sobbed “is my baby dead?” before she collapsed and died in a hospital ward just hours after the death of her son, an inquest heard.
Police were called to Viktorija Mardosiene’s home in Newcastle-under-Lyme after receiving reports five-month-old Kevin Deguitas was not breathing.
Viktorija Mardosiene died 14 hours after son Kevin’s deathBPM
The baby was rushed to Royal Stoke University Hospital where he was tragically declared dead, Stoke Sentinel reports.
Viktorija, 32, went into cardiac arrest just 14 hours after the horror and died in the same hospital.
An inquest opening was told Kevin is believed to have died in a co-sleeping tragedy.
Consultant paediatric pathologist Dr Roger Malcomson said the post mortem found no signs of “significant internal or external injuries”.
He added: “What we are left with is a baby who has died co-sleeping with a parent. There is no specific medical cause of death after a comprehensive autopsy.
“There are problems associated with co-sleeping including overlaying. There is also a risk of hypothermia and restricting of airways. There is nothing sufficient to suggest a specific cause of death.
“I would consider an unascertained cause of death. With the debate of if this was a natural or unnatural death, I don’t think there is sufficient evidence to suggest either way.”
PC Tyler Lowe attended the home after the horror unfolded on August 9 last year.
Viktorija, who moved to England from her native Lithuania in 2016, told police the baby was put to bed while sleeping at 11pm.
PC Lowe told the hearing: “We approached Viktorija to make inquiries, she said ‘no English’.
“We kept some distance. She was on the phone to the baby’s father asking ‘is my baby dead?’ She began to cry.”
DC Craig Flowers, from Staffordshire Police’s child protection unit, said the home was in “some state of disarray”.
He told how there were empty cans of alcohol in the bedroom, with Viktorija found to be over the drink-drive limit of 35mg/ml.
He added: “It is fair to state she was in an understandably upset state. She was screaming, shouting and rocking back and forth screaming ‘kill me’.”
The distraught mum was taken voluntarily to Harplands mental health unit after Kevin’s death where she began complaining of chest pain.
She collapsed and died at 3.53pm – just 14 hours after her baby son died.
Dr Oluwafemi Popoola, a specialist in psychiatry, said the mum had been “distressed and crying uncontrollably” but had engaged with the service.
She was given an “appropriate and safe amount” of anxiety drug diazepam before her death, the court was told.
Pathologist Dr Andrew Hitchcock, who carried out Viktorija’s post mortem, could not identify a cause of death.
The inquest was adjourned until a later date while more research is carried out.
BPMViktorija’s cause of death could not be ascertained[/caption] Read More