Thea Flaskett died at Redcliffe Hospital, north of Brisbane, at 4.17am on September 11, 2023, a little more than four hours after she was born.

Thea’s parents, Meg and James Flaskett, remain hopeful for answers following a two-year wait for the inquest.

On Tuesday, Queensland Deputy State Coroner Stephanie Gallagher heard testimony from doctors who either treated Thea directly or were consulted remotely.

Didier Ngandu Tshamala stated he arrived at the hospital as the on-call paediatrician at 12.58 am after Thea’s birth, joining staff who had begun CPR.

Counsel assisting Geoffrey Diehm asked Tshamala what he assessed Thea’s condition to be soon after he arrived.

“At that point in time it was more of a respiratory disease or infectious disease,” Tshamala said.

“They said she was born in good condition. She was with her mother for the first five minutes.”

Tshamala agreed that soon after he arrived Thea started showing the need for intensive resuscitation.

During the inquest’s opening on Monday, it was noted that an autopsy revealed Thea suffered from a previously undiagnosed condition known as transposition of the great arteries.

Along with transposition, which affects blood through the heart, Thea had other conditions that could have contributed to her death.

Diehm asked Tshamala if it occurred to him while treating Thea that she might have had a transposition heart defect.

Tshamala said transposition was on a large list of conditions that could have matched Thea’s symptoms and he considered it “in a general way”.

Responding to the Flaskett family’s barrister, Sarah Lane, Tshamala indicated he did not regard Thea’s case as high-risk, despite induced labor due to a concerning low heart rate.

Gallagher heard the neonatal retrieval service arrived at Redcliffe Hospital at 2.05am with specialist equipment including an automatic ventilator.

Tshamala said Thea was unable to be moved by ambulance to a larger hospital in Brisbane because she suffered cardiac arrest.

Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital senior staff neonatologist Pieter Koorts testified about how he arranged for the service to attend Redcliffe Hospital.

“It was a quick turnaround given the time of night,” he said.

Koorts said transposition would be high on his list of possible diagnoses if at the time he had access to all the information available about Thea’s birth.

Gallagher previously heard testimony Thea’s transposition was not detected in pre-birth ultrasounds but if it had been, she would have been sent to a major Brisbane hospital for her birth.

Barrister for Redcliffe Hospital, April Freeman, asked Koorts if Thea’s survival would have been guaranteed if she was born at a hospital that could immediately insert a catheter into her heart as a precursor to surgery.

“Even at a tertiary centre with a cardiologist on standby, the outcome is not assured,” Koorts said.

The inquest is due to run in Brisbane for another four days.