Overview

• On day two of hearings, the on-call pediatrician said he initially suspected a respiratory or infectious problem before intensive resuscitation began and a neonatal retrieval team arrived.
• Thea Flaskett died at Redcliffe Hospital a little over four hours after birth on September 11, 2023, and an autopsy confirmed transposition of the great arteries that had not been detected before birth.
• Evidence outlined that a 20‑week morphology ultrasound in May 2023 did not identify the defect, and specialists said a prenatal diagnosis would have led to delivery at a major Brisbane hospital.
• A supervising sonographer described the morphology scan’s operator dependence and limits due to fetal position and maternal factors, noting even leading centres detect a minority of TGA cases, while saying the ultrasound equipment used was more than adequate.
• A radiologist testified TGA is often missed in mid‑trimester scans, and the coroner stopped questioning about a 2019 audit of ultrasound machinery as hypothetical, with the inquest scheduled to continue for four more days.