Doctors must put mums first so babies don’t die
Tracey Taylor and Bartosz Jaworski lost their baby Kristian at five days old due to numerous avoidable errors (Mail). These included doctors ignoring the complications of her first birth, no note on her medical records advising a caesarean, even though that was the consultant obstetrician’s instruction, and the registrar overruling this. Kristian’s heart rate was abnormal due to Tracey’s birth canal being too narrow to give birth to him, just as it was with my baby. When I gave birth to rowanna, I knew from the monitor that either the baby was in trouble or the machine was faulty — neither good — and I said so. I was given an emergency caesarean and although my baby didn’t breathe for some minutes, she was, thankfully, fine in the end. I was told after the emergency caesarean that my pelvis was too small to give birth naturally to a baby of more than 6lb and rowanna was more than 8lb. Her heart stopped while effectively trying to push herself or be pushed through the birth canal and she had to be resuscitated. She narrowly avoided brain damage. The difference is that she was my first child and it was 26 years ago. If medical staff don’t advocate safety for mother and baby, they need someone who will. My ex-husband richard had a bit of medical knowledge and was assertive. He even insisted on putting rowanna on my chest to bond with me, even though I was still unconscious and he was asked: ‘What’s the point?’ The point is that rowanna knew I was there and I still treasure that photo. She survived and is now a fit and healthy adult. Some nurses and doctors don’t take giving birth seriously enough. It’s a natural occurrence, but you can’t afford to take your eye off the ball for one second. For the sake of hours or maybe days of labour, it’s worth the vigilance. an NHS trust saving £1,796 by not doing a caesarean is no saving at all when a life is lost and you’re sued anyway. My thoughts are with Tracey and Bartosz.
LYNDA SULLIVAN, Strang, IoM.