‘Cesspit’ hospital to blame for death of my girl
Anguish after infection on ward claimed baby’s life
A MOTHER whose baby died of a superbug at Glasgow’s flagship hospital branded the building a ‘cesspit’ as she told how she has battled for answers over the tragedy.
Theresa Smith gave birth to Sophia in March 2017 at the Paisley Maternity Unit but the girl died just days later at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in Queen Elizabeth University Hospital (QEUH), Glasgow.
Mrs Smith described the events to the Scottish Hospitals Inquiry yesterday.
Chaired by Lord Brodie, it is examining problems with the environment and infections at the flagship hospital.
Mrs Smith said the loss of her daughter devastated the family. She said: ‘It destroyed us. Life falls into before Sophia and after Sophia. As a family unit we still are solid, but we were a very strong chain and one of the links is broken.
‘The hospital is not fit for purpose. Even passing there, I look up and see that building and I just feel like I want to throw up.
‘I do have ongoing concerns about patient safety and care at that hospital. How many other families have suffered like mine? How many other families are going to suffer like mine?
‘I’m proud to call Sophia my daughter. She was a tiny warrior. She battled hard against the breathing problems that had put her in that hospital. For someone so small, she was fierce. She had won her fight. It was a short-lived victory.’
Mrs Smith added: ‘The cesspit that is QEUH is solely responsible for my daughter’s death.
‘Sophia was polluted with an overwhelmingly lethal infection that literally ate her little body from the insides out. A disgusting waste of a beautiful life.’ The girl was born with mosaic Down Syndrome, where babies can have fewer characteristics of the condition.
At birth, she suffered breathing difficulties and was transferred to QEUH where she was put on ventilation.
But despite her condition improving, she suddenly deteriorated after ten days and died in her mother’s arms.
A post-mortem examination revealed she was infected with MRSA, a type of bacteria associated with hospital environments, which had caused pneumonia and sepsis.
Mrs Smith said she has ‘her own thoughts about how Sophia might have contracted the infection’. She said ‘friends in the field feel that it would have had to have been introduced to her arterial line to have taken hold so fast’.
She said of QEUH: ‘The place was dirty. They’ve got all these really high-risk ill people... it just baffles me why the place has to be so rotten.’
Mrs Smith and her husband Matthew raised a complaint with the Scottish Public Services Ombudsman, who did not take the matter further.
They then reported the death to the police, requesting a fatal accident inquiry.
It could be many years before a decision is taken whether to hold one.
The inquiry continues.
‘Waste of a beautiful life’