THE parents of a baby boy who died one day after he was born have told an inquest in Salisbury that risks regarding the delivery should have been made clearer.

Barnaby Bianconi was born by caesarian section on March 10, 2014, at Salisbury District Hospital after his mother experienced difficulties in labour.

But he later died at Southampton General Hospital, where he was receiving specialist treatment. He had suffered massive internal bleeding in his skull and lack of oxygen to the brain.When he was born he had to be given oxygen to kick-start his breathing.

Dr Tamzin Griffiths, a consultant paediatrician at Salisbury District Hospital, who had attended the birth, said Barnaby was “quite poorly” but his heart rate responded “reasonably quickly”. However, when his condition did not improve he was transferred for specialist treatment. Prior to Barnaby's birth, his mother, Vanessa Bianconi, who lives in Mere, was concerned about going over her due date and the possibility of having another large baby because of a previously difficult birth.

She had attended a clinic in Shaftesbury with consultant Stuart Verdin where she wanted to discuss these concerns and the possibility of having an elected caesarean but says the conversation had been "quite clipped".

It was decided to go ahead with a VBAC (vaginal birth after caesarean). She said: “In hind sight I wish I had walked in and said I want an elective. I don’t feel I should have to fight for it.”

Mr Verdin said at the time he felt VBAC was still an appropriate form of delivery and there was a "more than likely" chance of success.

Mrs Bianconi said using the word "successful" when discussing delivery was misleading and, to her, meant "a straightforward birth with a bit of help from the midwife", which was not the case. She said no one explained the risks of it going wrong.

Consultant Nick Nicholas said Mrs Bianconi's care prior to the delivery was what he would have expected. He highlighted failings in taking tests from the umbilical cord when Barnaby was born, which he described as “unacceptable”, especially after a difficult delivery. The inquest heard there had been problems taking the cord gases, which were taken later.

Giulio Bianconi told the inquest that "small print" risk factors such as his wife's previously large baby, her body mass index and her age should have been discussed.

He said: “None of these risks were mentioned to my wife – your chance of success is 70 per cent but there are these factors that might reduce that slightly to whatever degree.

"No one has ever told me why no one mentions this. They are pertinent and very important to tell people and help them make an informed decision. Without that information they are not making a fully informed decision.”

Mr Nicholas said in the UK predicative scoring was not used to calculate the risk for individual patients as studies were "not robust enough".

He said consultants could not go through every possible risk with patients as it would “confuse” and put a “heavy burden” on them. And he said that medical guidelines did not tell doctors to individualise risk factors.

Mr Bianconi added: “Probably, for the right reasons people prefer you to have a vaginal birth and because they think it is safer and costs less but there are good reasons people should have a vaginal birth. The way the medical system is set up, they are steering you in that direction because they are giving you more positives.”Mr Verdin said: “It is unfortunately a very imperfect way of deciding whether someone is suitable for a mode of delivery or not, and perhaps in this case we got it wrong."

Tearful, he added: "I am so sorry. I'm so sorry [...] But we didn’t know that until after.

“At the time we made what we felt was our appropriate assessment, appropriate judgement and appropriate advice. When I say we got it wrong, we do not know that — "We know what happened was tragic after the event. No one would have seen or felt they were doing the wrong thing.”

Barnaby also had two small fractures to his skull which did not contribute to the cause of death.

The coroner, Dr Claire Balysz, adjourned the inquest while she considers her conclusion.