It’s all right ... I’ve fixed him
What doctor told mother of baby decapitated during birth as she handed him over for heartbreaking final kiss
A DEVASTATED mother whose baby son was decapitated in a botched delivery yesterday revealed how a doctor told her ‘I’ve fixed him’ before handing him over for a last cuddle.
Laura Gallazzi, 34, was just over 25 weeks pregnant when her baby, Steven, died.
Horrifically, the infant’s legs, arms and torso had become detached – leaving his head inside her womb.
She then underwent a caesarean section to remove the head – and it was sewn back on to Steven’s body so she could say goodbye.
Earlier this year, a tribunal cleared gynaecologist Dr Vaishnavy Laxman to go back to work, despite finding her culpable of medical failures during the 2014 procedure at Dundee’s Ninewells Hospital. Yesterday, while stroking the blue teddy containing her son’s ashes, Miss Gallazzi, of Dundee, told how her initial response after being told the grim reality of what had happened had been: ‘I don’t want to see him’.
But she told BBC Scotland: ‘The doctor, she was really lovely. She said, “It’s all right”. Her words were “I’ve fixed him”. I couldn’t hold him properly but I was able to look at him, and kiss him and smell him. But it wasn’t the same, it’s not the same as what it should have been.’
She had expected to have a caesarean as the baby was in breech position but Dr Laxman proceeded with a regular delivery.
The baby’s head became trapped during the birth and
various techniques were tried to free it, but during this his ‘head became detached from his body’, a medical tribunal found.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service panel said he had died before this happened.
Stroking the teddy, Miss Gallazzi recalled: ‘I felt a pop’ – and initially looked at a ring on her hand believing it had snapped during labour. She said: ‘ I’m thinking to myself, “Well, what was that?”
‘I felt nothing between my legs, so I thought “I’ve done it. I’ve done it. My son’s here”.
‘I didn’t hear him crying but I wasn’t too worried about that because I knew he was so small.
‘Then the room went into absolute chaos.
‘ People were rushing about. There was a guy who tried to go out of the room. I caught his gaze He kind of stopped, kind of turned back on himself and sort of continued doing what he was doing. The next word I heard was “right, push again”. And I’m thinking to myself “Why am I pushing again? I’ve done it”. Then a couple of minutes later, it’s “Oh, you’re going to be put to sleep”.’ Miss Gallazzi added that when she first arrived at the hospital, midwives helped her prepare for a premature birth and all seemed well. She said: ‘I was told my baby was OK.
They wanted to keep him in my belly for as long as possible because he was in the best possible place – and I was in the hospital so I was in the best place.’
When she felt a tightening around her stomach, she was moved to the labour suite as a precaution, but the next day the umbilical cord emerged from the womb and medical staff sprang into action. She explained: ‘I was taken to the first available room, put on the bed, wheeled through to theatre, put on another bed. My son’s heart rate was dipped but it was there.
‘I was thinking to myself “You have to stay calm, you have to stay calm for your son. You’re in the right place, all these people know what they’re doing. Just trust them”.’
Attempts to deliver the baby continued for another 20 to 25 minutes. Miss Gallazzi said she was ‘absolutely distraught’ when she was told her son had died.
The MTPS panel cleared Dr Laxman of serious misconduct. It said her fitness to practise was not impaired and ruled that she could return to work, describing the incident as an ‘error of judgement’ and saying: ‘Even good doctors can make mistakes.’
Miss Gallazzi has now launched a petition calling for a change in Scottish law to give stillborn babies a legal identity.
‘I could look at him and smell him’