Cavan consultant obstetrician Dr Salah Aziz has told a Medical Council inquiry into his care of a woman in childbirth that the dosage of a drug used to speed up labour he recommended was not followed.
On day five of the inquiry, Dr Aziz is under cross examination by lawyers for the council.
Dr Aziz said he first assessed Patient 1 at 10am on 22 November 2012 at Cavan General Hospital.
He said that four fifths of the baby's head was palpable.
Dr Aziz said he recommended that the drug Oxytocin should be administered to speed up labour.
But he told the inquiry the dosage was not followed by staff.
That evening, he said he believed it would take about an hour for theatre 3 to become available and staffed for him to perform a trial instrument delivery for the baby.
This was because an emergency caesarean section was under way in theatre 2 and theatre 1 had also been busy.
Barrister Lorna Lynch, for the council, put it to Dr Aziz that he turned out to be wrong, as the C-section was nearly completed in theatre 2 about 25 minutes later and staff were being redeployed to theatre 3 for him.
Dr Aziz said he did not call for a second theatre to be opened for Patient 1, after he determined her baby needed to be delivered.
From all he heard, he presumed a theatre to be busy, he added.
But he agreed with lawyers for the Medical Council that he did not make specific enquiries about getting another theatre for Patient 1 open.
Dr Aziz also said he could not recall ever personally experiencing not being able to get a theatre open at Cavan, due to staff not turning-up.
He was asked by lawyers for the Council, why instead of attempting an unsuccessful instrument delivery, in the labour ward, did he not wait until a Caesarean section in Theatre 2 was completed, or trigger the hospital contingency plan to get extra staff in to open Theatre 3.
Dr Aziz said he could not leave Patient 1 to go to Theatre 2 where another operation was under way, to establish how much longer it would be.
He also said he presumed the contingency plan to get extra staff to open Theatre 3 would have been triggered by the midwife.
The inquiry will resume tomorrow.
