Botched care left mother dying after baby’s birth
A mother-of-two died after an anaesthetist removed a breathing tube too early, an inquest heard.
Frances Cappuccini was undergoing an examination under anaesthetic after suffering a severe haemorrhage, following the birth of her second son Giacomo, at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in October 2012.
The 30-year-old Offham Primary School teacher lost up to half her blood due to a large piece of placenta being left behind after a caesarian.
The inquest has heard of a catalogue of failures and miscommunication.
More than four years on, no one can say who the on-duty consultant anaesthetist was and crucial witnesses – including Dr Wai Wai Myit, who performed the botched c-section but is now in a remote part of Burma – are unable to give evidence.
On Tuesday, Dr Errol Cornish – a consultant anaesthetist who was last year cleared of gross negligence manslaughter – told the hearing he had made the difficult decision to leave his patient and her five-minute-old baby in a nearby theatre and rush to the aid of Dr Nadeem Azeez.
Dr Azeez, an anaesthetist who was in charge of Mrs Cappuccini and has since gone to Pakistan, had been trying to rouse her for half an hour but should have been supervised by the on-duty consultant.
Earlier Dr David Bogod, an expert on obstetrics, had told the hearing Dr Azeez failed to make sure Mrs Cappuccini’s airway was clear after the operation, adding the check was the “bread and butter of anaesthetic practice.” Dr Cornish said not a day has passed when he had not wished things had been done differently, adding he believed Dr Azeez had only told him “half the truth” about how he had cared for Mrs Cappuccini.
He now suspected the anaesthetist had removed her breathing tube too soon. She never woke up from the procedure.
Responding to suggestions he was, in fact, the on-duty consultant, he said he had never been told this and, while he could not “stake his life on it,” was sure a colleague had said trust medical director Dr Paul Sigston was performing that role.
He added it took 45 minutes for senior colleagues to take over from him, described by family lawyer Neil Sheldon as “manifestly inadequate”, and that crucial ventilation machinery was not present and working for 10 minutes.
The inquest, in Gravesend, continues.