Red-tape agony for parents of still-born baby
ACOUPLE who endured a still-born birth have been caught-up in a red-tape wrangle where they have been threatened with prosecution.
Mohammad Ali and his wife had been expecting a boy when the 20-week scan identified the heart wasn’t fully-formed.
The couple, from Rochdale, talked it over with friends and family, agonising over their decision.
The conception had been something of a miracle itself after Mohammad’s wife, who asked not be identified, had suffered an ectopic pregnancy leaving her with only one fallopian tube. They had planned for the boy, a brother to their three-yearold son, to be their last child.
Accepting that it was in his best interests for him to die must have been unimaginably painful.
“As a mother, you will never forget,” said Mohammad’s wife.
Mohammad added: “You’re carrying your own baby and you’re going to get it killed... in simple words. There’s no way we can describe what we went through, what we felt.”
But the trauma has been made even worse by an NHS mix-up.
Under UK law, a baby born dead after 24 weeks must be registered in the stillbirth register, which combines elements of both birth and death registration.
The couple say at first they were told by a midwife at Oldham Royal the stillbirth would be marked down as 23 weeks and six days and registration would not be necessary.
“It wasn’t until we were in hospital that somebody said about the 24 weeks. We didn’t know anything about the legal terms,” said Mohammad.
“Before 12’o’clock I think we would have been ok. But because the labour went past midnight they changed and she completed the 24 weeks. The hospital staff were confused themselves.”
When they were discharged from hospital, the couple understood they did not have to register the stillbirth. The couple say they were told because he was stillborn before 24 weeks, the hospital could take care of burial arrangements.
At first, they planned to go ahead with this option.
But they changed their mind when they realised there was a minimum wait of six to eight weeks before it could go ahead on the NHS.
“They denied that we had the right to take the body,” said Mohammad.
“Because, according to the letter we were sent, we still have to register the baby’s birth and death.”
The couple again spoke to a senior nurse at Oldham Royal again and she ‘intervened’ with the mortuary.
The body was released and the burial went ahead. But the problems were still not over.
Mohammad’s wife started receiving letters asking her about antenatal appointments that she has ‘missed.’
Oldham Royal staff said they would pass the news of the stillbirth on to her local NHS authorities, but that did not happen.
Then earlier this month, the couple discovered the child had been issued with an NHS number because authorities continued to believe the stillbirth happened at 24 weeks. This led to the registrar in Oldham sending another letter to Mohammad’s wife accusing her of failing to provide information about the birth.
The letter asks her to attend a face-to-face interview at Chadderton Town Hall or face prosecution.
Mohammad’s wife said: “Why are we facing prosecution just for losing a baby?
“It was not our mistake, we would never dream of it.
“Obviously, they don’t have the right information. I was angry and surprised causing us all this again.
“When I got the letter I had to sit down for half an hour. We’re trying to get on with our lives.
“All these memories, of course we can never forget [the baby’s death], but when we receive these letters it’s causing us a lot of pain,” she said.