New mother left to die by two foreign NHS doctors who weren’t fully qualified
A HEALTHY young primary school teacher lay dying for almost an hour-and-a-half after two underqualified NHS doctors failed to care for her properly after she had given birth, a court heard yesterday.
Frances Cappuccini, 30, suffered heavy bleeding and needed an emergency operation after her son was born by Caesarean section at Tunbridge Wells hospital in Kent.
But she never woke up from her anaesthetic after the two doctors failed in their ‘elementary task’ of ensuring she was breathing properly, it was alleged.
Instead of fitting a breathing tube, Dr Errol Cornish – originally from South Africa – and Dr Nadeem Azeez, who received his basic medical qualifications at Punjab University in Lahore, propped her up with cushions, checked her temperature and used a handheld face mask, Inner London Crown Court heard.
It meant the mother- of-two was left struggling to breathe for 80 minutes before a tube was correctly inserted into her throat. By then, the damage was done and she suffered a major cardiac arrest, the jury was told. Her son survived.
Prosecutor John Price QC said the death of Mrs Cappuccini, affectionately known as Mrs Coffee by her pupils, was ‘wholly unexpected’ and ‘wholly avoidable’.
Cornish, 68, a consultant anaesthetist, is standing trial accused of unlawfully killing Mrs Cappuccini by gross negligence. Anaesthetist Azeez, 52 – who was primarily responsible for Mrs Cappuccini’s care after surgery – has fled and is believed to be in Pakistan.
The court heard that Azeez would have been facing the same charge as Cornish if he had still been in this country.
The case is a landmark trial as Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells Trust, which employed the pair, is also in court accused of corporate manslaughter – on the grounds that they allegedly failed to properly check the two doctors’ qualifications.
It is the first time an NHS trust has been charged with the offence since its introduction in 2008.
The jury heard that on the morning of October 9, 2012, Mrs Cappuccini was taken into theatre after she began bleeding heavily following the birth of her second son Giacomo. She
‘Seriously failed’
was then anaesthetised, and the surgery to remove residual placenta from her womb – which was found to have been causing the bleed and should have been removed at the birth – was a success.
But the mother from West Malling, Kent, suffered major cardiac arrest just three hours after being put into recovery and died at 4.20pm.
Mr Price said the doctors who were responsible for her following the operation had both ‘seriously failed’ the young mother.
He told the jury that if the doctors are found to be grossly negligent, then the court could find that the NHS Trust may have employed someone they knew or should have known was not qualified for the role. Mr Price said the two men did not even hold the basic qualifications to do their jobs Azeez had apparently ‘never obtained any postgraduate qualification in anaesthesia’.
Mr Price said that one of the Trust’s appraisals had found that Azeez was ‘unmotivated’ with ‘poor attendance’.
At one appraisal in 2010 he was noted to have minimal training in dealing with seriously ill patients, which meant he lacked both ‘confidence and skills’.
The jury also heard that Cornish was first appointed as a locum – or temporary – anaesthetist consultant at the hospital through an agency in 2009, and later returned in 2012.
However Mr Price insisted he had never gained a postgraduate qualification in anaesthesia recognised in the UK.
He went on to claim that the Trust had failed to make ‘appropriate efforts to recruit a qualified consultant anaesthetist’ and had failed to ensure that Azeez was properly supervised.
Mrs Cappuccini, who taught at Offham Primary School for nine years before her death, left behind her husband Tom and their two sons Giacomo, now two, and Luca, who is five.
The Government is currently negotiating with Pakistani authorities in a bid to get Azeez sent back to the UK so he can formally be charged for manslaughter by gross negligence.
Cornish, of Holmbury Park in Bromley, South East London, has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter by gross negligence.
Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust has pleaded not guilty to corporate manslaughter.
The trial continues.