Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
HOSPITAL ERRORS LED TO BABY DEATH
Delay in apology adds to agony for Harriet’s parents
THE parents of a baby who died after a series of mistakes by hospital staff have described their anger and grief as “brutal”.
Jack and Sarah Hawkins’ daughter Harriet passed away due to poor care during her birth in April last year.
Nottingham City Hospital has now apologised “unreservedly”, acknowledging the couple’s grief had been exacerbated by the fact their baby might be alive today had it not been for their shortcomings.
The pair, who hold senior positions at Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, now hope to prompt a change in the law so coroners can investigate deaths in childbirth.
Jack and Sarah, who is from Northern Ireland, believe if deaths were properly investigated by coroners, hospitals would be forced to properly investigate the circumstances, helping them put in place measures to ensure the same mistakes aren’t made again.
The pair, who live in Nottingham, said there was a list of errors, including that the hospital failed to diagnose labour, Sarah being sent home from hospital twice while in labour, and failure to identify an obstetric emergency.
Jack said they have still not been able to have a funeral because of the struggle in getting NUH to acknowledge and understand what really happened.
Before the birth, Jack worked as a clinical director for the NHS, a position which aims to make hospitals safer by making sure proper practices are in place and are followed.
He said: “The good response from the hospital would have been for them to say, ‘Your baby has died, this is a tragedy, this hasn’t happened here for X days because we do everything we can to make sure it doesn’t happen, we’re going to investigate everything about it and we’re going to make sure we learn the lessons and get back to you’.”
Sarah added: “Instead we got, ‘These things happen’. These things don’t happen, people die for a reason.
“They didn’t say sorry. They started saying sorry for your loss but they didn’t actually take any responsibility for many months.”
Jack said: “The
NOTTINGHAM
aftermath has been brutal. After six months I went back to work and for about three months I kept having to leave meetings because of the panic.
“I do quite a lot of presenting to large groups and I would just be shaking in the bathroom beforehand.
“I couldn’t bear to be away from Sarah – I was worried that she was going to die. That was the sort of place I was in.
“I had to leave work again and I’ve been off since then. I hope to return to it again, but not until this is finished. Until we have clarity, but until we have recognition I don’t see how my mental health is going to improve.”
Sarah, a senior physiotherapist, said: “With my job I have to walk past the labour suite every day. I see those same midwives at work, I see expectant mothers. I didn’t actually research the labour that much because I worked at NUH so I had complete trust in my colleagues.” Her husband added: “Our good friends have just had a baby and we can’t go round. I can’t imagine holding someone else’s baby.”
Now, the pair have said they want a change in the law so coroners are obliged to investigate deaths in childbirth, bringing England and Wales in line with Northern Ireland.
Following a landmark legal ruling in 2013 it was held the “coroner can carry out an inquest into the death of a stillborn child that had been capable of being born alive” in Northern Ireland.
NUH chief executive Peter Homa said: “I reiterate my condolences to Jack and Sarah and acknowledge the unimaginable distress and sadness caused by Harriet’s death.
“I apologise unreservedly that their pain has been worsened knowing had the shortcomings in care late in Sarah’s pregnancy not been experienced, Harriet might be alive today.
“An external investigation concluded a number of failings in our care and processes, notably had more active monitoring of Sarah and Harriet occurred during labour there may have been opportunities to identify earlier signs of distress and deterioration.
“The report concluded earlier intervention might have altered the outcome.”