Adam Stokes baby death: Court told how doctors put 9-week-old Scarlett in an ‘induced coma’

A CONSULTANT told a jury today (June 29) how a tiny Luton baby, Scarlett Stokes-Craig, was put in “an induced coma” by medical staff as they tried to save her.

Paediatric consultant, Doctor Quen Mok was part of the team at Great Ormond Street Hospital treating the nine-week-old baby who had “collapsed” at her Luton home and gone into cardiac arrest.

She gave evidence today at the trial of the man accused of the baby’s manslaughter – her father Adam Stokes.

At Luton crown court, it’s alleged that the 33-year-old killed his baby daughter by shaking her with “excessive force” which caused brain injuries.

Doctor Mok said putting the baby into an induced coma by sedating her, was to ensure oxygen reached her brain.

Part of the procedure was to “cool” both the baby and her brain to reduce her metabolic rate and energy consumption.

In addition she said Scarlett was given drugs to improve her blood pressure and ensure a good blood supply to the brain.

The doctor said the procedure lasted 48-hours and she told the jury how it was often described in newspapers as an “induced coma” and had been used in the treatment of racing driver Michael Schumacher following his skiing accident in which he suffered a head injury.

Doctor Mok was giving evidence at the start of week two of the trial of Mr Stokes.

Scarlett Stokes-Craig died at London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital in January 2013, 10 days after she was brought into the hospital with head injuries.

Mr Stokes, 33, from Runfold, Luton, is on trial for her manslaughter and denies causing the injuries which led to the nine-week-old’s death.

Earlier the court heard how an ambulance was called to the eighth floor flat where she lived in Green Court, Green Close in Luton at around 8am on the morning of January 14 2013.

The court has heard paramedics found her to be “pale, unresponsive, blue, floppy, warm to the touch and in cardiac arrest.”

She was rushed to the Luton and Dunstable Hopsital but transferred the same day to Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.

Ten days later she died.

The prosecution’s case is that baby Scarlett was being fed by her father at the time she collapsed and the bleed to her brain that had caused her death had been caused by shaking.

Giving evidence today, Doctor Mok, a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health who is a consultant in the paediatric intensive care unit at Great Ormond Street Hospital, went through a timeline of the care given to the baby.

She said when the baby arrived by ambulance at the Luton and Dunstable Hospital she was not breathing and had no heartbeat.

Between 8.37am and 8.40am that morning she said the baby was given injections of adrenalin to get the baby’s heart beating.

At 8.51am she said baby Scarlett was given antibiotics in case her sudden collapse was the result of an infection.

Next she was given fluids and sedatives as a tube was put down her throat to her lungs to help her breath.

Dr Mok said the sedatives would have been administered to stop the infant “fighting against the intrusion of having a tube put down her throat to ventilate her.”

Next, the jury was told, the baby was given a “dose of vitamin K after a scan revealed she was suffering a bleed on her brain and the doctor said vitamin K helps the blood to clot.

At 10am the court heard Scarlett was given muscle relaxant to make it easy to “ventilate” her and ensure blood and oxygen reached the brain.

When it was ascertained that the red blood cell count in the baby’s body was low, she was given a blood transfusion.

The consultant then told how at 11.45 that morning the pupils if the baby’s eyes were not reacting to a light being shone in them, which she said meant there must have been “some brain injury.”

Doctor Mok said the soft spot on top of Scarlett’s head known as the fontanelle was “full” which indicated a raise in pressure inside her head.

The court heard the baby was transferred to Great Ormond Street Hospital that afternoon.

There a CT scan confirmed there was bleeding around the brain on both sides and under the protective layers that surround it, as well as inside parts of the brain as well.

Because of these findings, said Dr Mok, medical staff at the hospital treating the baby considered at this stage she may have suffered a non-accidental injury.

She then told how it was decided to put the baby in an induced coma for 48 hours to ensure a good supply of blood and oxygen reached the brain.

On January 15 she said there was retinal haemorrhaging in both of the baby’s eyes and test also revealed the baby was suffering seizures caused by damage to brain cells, pressure from blood that was “irritating” the brain and brain cells starting to swell.

The court then heard how on January 18, a “subdural tap” was performed on Scarlett to remove fluid from the top of her head and reduce the pressure that was building.

Four days later on January 22, Dr Mok said there was an attempt to take Scarlett off the life support ventilator to see if she could breathe on her own.

The court heard she was unable to and put back on it.

Finally the jury heard how on January 24 the baby was taken off the ventilator and was certified dead that evening at 6pm.

Case proceeding.