Leigh Day & Co partner Frances Swaine has achieved a substantial settlement for a client whose new-born daughter died hours after being born.
Mrs W was admitted to St Peter's Hospital, Surrey in September 2005 for the birth of her third child. She had experienced an uneventful pregnancy but was due to deliver by Caesarian section as her previous pregnancies had both resulted in emergency Caesarians. The operation was uncomplicated and Mrs W's third daughter was delivered successfully. She was of a good weight and had satisfactory Apgar scores.
High Dependency Unit
The baby was wrapped and given to Mrs W before she was wheeled from theatre to the High Dependency Unit (HDU). In the HDU Mrs W fed the baby who was by now dressed in a 'babygro'. Having had a spinal anaesthetic Mrs W had no feeling below the waist and had to be propped into a feeding position, on her side, by the midwife before she was able to feed the baby who was positioned on a pillow or blanket. This she did successfully. She was not given a call bed (when the patient is able to call for help with a button), the bed was left at theatre height and Mrs W was attached to a blood pressure monitor.
New mother left unsupervised
The midwife then told Mrs W that she was "just popping off" to attend to another patient. Naturally Mrs W was tired after delivering her baby and started to fall asleep, her baby was still on top of the bedding as this happened. The day was very warm (a fan had already been brought into the room in an attempt to cool it). Mrs W's husband had also left the room to make some telephone calls. When he returned his wife was asleep and his baby seemed to be still on the breast. However, when he checked his baby's breathing he was horrified to realise that he could not hear her breathing, and that her hand was limp and white. All resuscitation attempts failed and she was pronounced dead.
Inquest's verdict
The coroner at the inquest into the baby's death confirmed that she had not died because of any genetic problem, or neonatal disease and that the most likely reason for her death was suffocation whilst unobserved by any member of the clinical team. He passed a verdict of "neglect of care".
Mr and Mrs W and their two older daughters have been left devastated by this death. The shock for Mrs W of waking from a short post operative slumber to find that her healthy and normal baby had died in her arms was immense and she is still struggling to come to terms with this loss. They are relieved that the settlement has been reached quickly and without having to resort to litigation and hope that the introduction of stricter strict monitoring policies in the midwifery unit at St Peter's Hospital's will prevent a similar tragedy happening in the future. The hospital deny liability.
For more information please contact
Frances Swaine on 020 7650 1200.
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