Forty-year-old mother to sue NHS hospital for negligence after son’s disabilities
AMOTHER whose son was born with disabilities after she suffered an agonising wait to go into labour has slammed staff at a problem hospital - and announced she’s suing.
Kate-anne Wilds, 40, from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, sought medical help after she started leaking amniotic fluid, which is designed to protect the baby and aid their development.
She then attended appointments with a community midwife at Shrewsbury Hospital over a two-week period in 2004 before it was decided that she should be induced. Her son, Morgan, was eventually born after a 14-hour labour, during which he got stuck in the birth canal
Wilds and her son Morgan in 2004. She suffered an agonising wait before she was induced into labour.
The hospital is run by Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, which is at the centre of an investigation into alleged failings in maternity services over many decades.
An interim report has revealed hundreds of possible cases of poor care - including stillbirths, deaths during pregnancy and of newborns as well as birth injuries.
Morgan, now 15, has a range of disabilities including autism, dyspraxia and other learning difficulties.
He also suffers from behavioural problems, mobility, coordination and balance issues and has hypermobility syndrome in both ankles and feet - meaning his joints are too flexible.
Wilds said: ‘Morgan is the most wonderful, loving and affectionate boy I could have ever wished for.
‘He still struggles greatly to come to terms with his neurological difficulties and other problems.
‘He fears becoming an adult and being unable to cope with even the simplest of everyday tasks and demands.
‘As a family we are trying to support him the best that we can, in the hope that we can equip him with some basic life skills at the very least, as he moves through to adulthood.
‘However, in realistic terms we know that the prospect of Morgan becoming a fully independent adult is very unlikely.
‘I have always been angry by what happened around Morgan’s birth but we just tried to get on with things the best way we can. I thought that my concerns would not be listened to.
‘It’s only now with all the other issues at the hospitals emerging that you realise the extent of the problems and there are others with similar concerns.
‘Hearing the findings of the report and that issues have been going on for years but nothing appears to have improved is worrying.
‘Nothing can make up for what happened, especially to Morgan, but we deserve to know whether more should have been done to help us and if so if the conditions Morgan now has were the result of his birth.’
Ms Wilds has instructed medical negligence experts at Irwin Mitchell to investigate the care she and her son received.
Tim Annett, partner at Irwin Mitchell representing the families affected, said: ‘Sadly through our work we see the consequences that families can be left to face through failings in maternity care and delays in delivering babies.
‘As more detail continues to emerge about maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford hospitals the more concern there is among patients.
‘What happened to Kate-anne and Morgan is one of a number of first-hand accounts we are continuing to hear from families.
‘We are now investigating these concerns and are determined to establish answers for the families, including Kate-anne and Morgan, as quickly as possible.
‘We once again reiterate the need for lessons to be learned from the wider failings already identified in maternity services at the Trust.’
Ms Wilds fell pregnant with Morgan - her first child and only in 2003.