Despite improved survival, particularly for extremely preterm infants, sadly some neonates die. When this happens, it may be appropriate to refer the death to the coroner, however, there is huge variation in practice between settings regarding the coroner referral process. After a particular case concerning several hospitals, we reviewed available evidence and produced a guideline to aid this process, involving both neonatologists and our coroner’s office, and including parental concerns. This has enabled a systematic, transparent approach that is equal for all infants.

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Since the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) published its Position Statement on Therapeutic Hypothermia (TH) for Neonatal Encephalopathy in 2010, TH has become firmly established as the standard of care for all term infants with moderate or severe hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy (HIE). There is increasing evidence of its long-term benefits for these infants, as well as its cost-effectiveness.¹ The new BAPM Framework published in November 2020 therefore expands upon the previous guidance and incorporates the most up-to-date evidence.

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Intra-abdominal birth trauma is an uncommon yet severe and life-threatening event. Direct or indirect trauma of an abdominal organ during birth could lead to abdominal haemorrhage in the newborn infant. We present the case of a preterm infant with a subcapsular haematoma of the liver. This lesion should be suspected in infants with unexplained anaemia, hypovolaemia or haemodynamic instability.

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Neonatal central diabetes insipidus (DI) is an uncommon disorder. It is characterised by polyuria, hypernatraemia, high plasma osmolality, and low urine osmolality. Sodium valproate is a drug used for seizure treatment; its use in adult patients to treat DI has been reported in the literature. We report a case of neonatal neurohypophyseal DI managed with sodium valproate for refractory seizures. Sodium valproate may have contributed to the improvement in DI symptoms by increasing the production of antidiuretic hormone. To our knowledge, no such association has been reported for neonatal DI.

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