Melbourne hospital’s high number of stillborn deaths were preventable

A doctor has been linked to the “avoidable” deaths of seven babies at Bacchus Marsh Hospital.

Ms Hennessy said they had since been offered counselling and assured them ongoing investigations in the deaths would be “open and transparent”.

An investigation is expected to also ask tough questions of the wider Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital and why the deaths were able to occur without anybody raising an alarm with authorities.

The woman said “devastated” nurses attended the funeral, while others from the Royal Melbourne Hospital told her sister the death should have never happened. “The families have been telling us that they’ve been told there are other families [affected]”.

This week it was revealed that seven deaths of newborn and stillborn babies at the hospital, who all died while under the care of the Djerriwarrh Health Service in the city’s west, may have been preventable.

Mrs Curran said she and her husband will never recover from the traumatic experience.

Conditions were placed on his medical license in June following a 28-month investigation by the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority.

This investigation resulted from a doctor lodging a complaint.

The entire board of the Djerriwarrh Health Service has been stood down and all midwifery services have been reviewed in what has been described as a “catastrophic event”.

‘We are putting in place measures to ensure that the present and future safety of the health service and maternity services are in place and, importantly, providing support to staff, ‘ Dr Ballard told reporters in Melbourne.

Law firm Maurice Blackburn have confirmed on radio station 3AW that they have been contacted by two families over the deaths of their babies at the hospital.

A review into a cluster of perinatal deaths at Djerriwarrh Health Services highlighted 11 baby deaths from 2013 to 2015.

The firm had already been preparing a Supreme Court action on behalf of a family whose baby was left brain-damaged after an allegedly bungled birth at the hospital.

“Families are still coming to terms with the news they have received this week”.

Victorian Health Minister Jill Hennessy announced on Friday that the hospital’s “key failings” were identified in the care provided to babies in 2013 and 2014.

‘It is now evident that Djerriwarrh failed to adjust or update its practices in recent years, to respond to rapid population growth in the region, ‘ Ms Hennessy said.

The curtains at Dr Parhar’s home remained drawn on Saturday afternoon, with reports that he has left the country.