Grieving mother says she can never forgive doctor over mistakes

Woman believes medic is to blame for not performing Caesarian section

A heartbroken Dundee woman has said she will never forgive the gynaecologist who caused her unborn baby to be decapitated in the womb.

Laura Gallazzi, 34, said she keeps her son Steven’s ashes in a teddy bear so she can “cuddle him forever”.

Dr Vaishnavy Laxman decapitated the youngster during a bungled attempt to deliver the baby, who was in a breech position.

Tests later showed Steven had already died by the time the incident occurred.

However, Ms Gallazzi said she believed Dr Laxman still has “blood on her hands” and that she even tried to comfort the doctor following the tragic events at Ninewells Hospital in March 2014.

Ms Gallazzi had been rushed into hospital after her waters broke at 25 weeks and her umbilical cord prolapsed.

She said: “I felt petrified. I’d no idea what was going on but knew it was big as all of a sudden there were about 15 medics around me.”

Doctors insisted Ms Gallazzi try to give birth naturally, despite being only two to three centimetres dilated, well below the recommended 10cm.

Ms Gallazzi was then anaesthetised and when she came round she was visited by Dr Laxman, who told her Steven had not survived.

Ms Gallazzi said: “She came into my room and sat to the edge of my bed. She told me Steven hadn’t made it.

“I told her ‘Don’t worry, these things happen’.

“I though it was because I was 25 weeks – I didn’t know something untoward had happened. I even held her hand. I told her I forgave her.”

Ms Gallazzi said she believed Dr Laxman’s failure to perform a Caesarian section cost Steven his life.

She learned about the decapitation from another doctor later in the day.

“Ms Gallazzi said: “I screamed and screamed, imagining what state my little boy was in. She decapitated my son.”

Ms Gallazzi had become pregnant shortly after her 30th birthday.

She and her partner Steven McCusker had been trying for a year to have a child.

She said she suffered from posttraumatic stress disorder as a result of the events three years ago and sees a psychologist twice a week.

“I screamed and screamed, imagining what state my little boy was in. LAURA GALLAZZI

Dr Vaishnavy Laxman was cleared despite a botched delivery of a Dundee mother’s baby.