When joy becomes tragedy
It took six years for one husband to receive a payout for his son when a young mum died hours after giving birth.
Darent Valley Hospital in Dartford paid out £150,000 in 2012 after the death of Lauren Gard six years earlier.
The 26-year-old suffered a heart attack caused by a group of symptoms that can occur in women with pre-eclampsia or eclampsia shortly after her son Charlie was delivered. She died several hours later.
Husband Merlin reached a settlement with Dartford and Gravesham NHS Trust and now raises funds in her memory.
In December 2013, a 25-yearold woman died in hospital just days after giving birth to her first child on Christmas Day.
School receptionist Natalie O’Shea passed away in Darent Valley Hospital after contracting meningitis, resulting in a fatal brain injury.
The coroner recorded a verdict of death by natural causes.
In October 2012, Malling primary school teacher Frances Cappuccini, 30, suffered serious blood loss and a cardiac arrest hours after giving birth by caesarean section at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in Pembury.
In January this year, a landmark manslaughter trial against consultant anaesthetist Dr Errol Cornish and Maidstone and Tunbridge Wells NHS Trust collapsed when the judge ordered a not guilty verdict after two weeks of evidence.
Mrs Cappuccini, who was affectionately known as Mrs Coffee by her pupils at Offham Primary, left husband Tom and their two boys, Giacomo and older brother Luca.