Birth tragedy: Man tells of pain as wife, child die

A weeping young father of two told an inquest that during his wife's dying moments at Wanganui Hospital no one told him her "life was about to come to an end".
"The staff went all panicky ... I was very upset. It seemed no one wanted to tell me anything," he said.
Sharna Ah Chookoon, 26, died  on June 17 at Wanganui Hospital last year from amniotic fluid embolism syndrome (AFES).
Her baby son, Elias, died minutes later.
AFES is rare and catastrophic condition that occurs during pregnancy or shortly after delivery.
A two-day inquest into her death is being held in the Wanganui District Council chambers before Palmerston North Coroner Carla na Nagara.
Mayor Michael Laws is representing the  dead woman's husband, Sanele Ah Chookoon.
Mr Laws read a letter written by him on behalf of his client to the Whanganui District Health Board last September.
In the letter, he detailed the events up to Mrs Ah Chookoon's death from 8.30am the previous day where she had gone into the maternity unit at Wanganui Hospital for an induction to induce labour due to having high blood pressure.
But lack of communication throughout the day and into the early hours of the next day, when she died, have left Mr Ah Chookoon distraught and wanting answers as to why his wife and baby son died - and asking did she have to die.
Just after midnight, Mr Ah Chookoon's wife  suddenly became very tired after her waters broke and the second stage of labour started, he said.
"She kept saying, 'I'm tired I can't do it ... I can't breathe'."
Mr Ah Chookoon said he wondered whether his wife was having an asthma attack.
"But this was different - I mean, like I knew she was in trouble."
A lot of staff started arriving in the room but he didn't know who they were. Specialist obstetrician David Wilde told him they needed to get the baby out soon.
"Don't worry, your wife's not going to die," Mr Wilde told him.
"I left the room because I felt things were going wrong and I needed to ring my family - I needed people there for my support.
"I was getting very upset and angry, because no one was telling me anything."
After making a phone call, he arrived back to see the staff performing CPR on his wife before rushing her to theatre.
"My body was shaking really bad. I didn't feel good - I had two other sons waiting for me at home, and I knew they were not going to see their mum again in this life."
Mr Ah Chookoon said now, a year later, he still feels angry at the lack of communication that night.
"My wife has gone and we (the family) are analysing the whole lot.
"You don't expect things like this to happen. If we can prevent this happening to anyone in the future it is important.
"I need to be able to tell my children what happened to their mother ... right now I still don't really know."