Cover-up probe launched after NHS hospital blunders kill actor’s baby
Tudor star warns families to take own notes so doctors can’t twist the truth later
A TV actor whose newborn son died because of a series of hospital blunders revealed yesterday that police are to investigate claims of a coverup by NHS lawyers.
The Tudors actor Jamie King lost his son Benjamin in May last year after his wife’s emergency caesarean was postponed for a day.
The decision to delay the delivery and send the mother-to-be home ‘resulted in Benjamin being born in a poor condition and his subsequent death’, a coroner said.
Mr King, 35, and his wife, Canadian actress Tamara Podemski, 39, turned off Benjamin’s life support machine when he was five days old because he was severely brain-damaged.
Mr King played poet Thomas Wyatt in The Tudors and has also appeared in Call the Midwife and Mad Men on TV as well as in films including Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy.
In an emotional statement outside Flax Bourton Coroner’s Court in Somerset, he said: ‘Rather than hearing the truth, we’ve had to listen to misremembered stories, altered accounts, deflection and diversion.
‘Left with so many unanswered questions, we feel compelled to appeal directly to expectant parents in the hope that this does not happen again.
‘At two weeks overdue, we were rushed into hospital in an ambulance following a deceleration in our baby’s heart rate. We were scheduled for a C-section to happen later that day but, shockingly, that evening – without giving us any clear reasons – they bumped our procedure to the following morning.
‘They ignored our objections and they sent us home. We believed them when they said it was safe to go home but it is now very clear we should have never been sent home that night.’ He urged expectant parents to take notes during every hospital appointment, saying: ‘That way, no-one can twist your story or play with the facts later.’
Mr King added: ‘We will continue our fight for justice for our Benjamin. We have been informed by the coroner that the matter of the altered witness statements has been reported to the police. We hope there will be a thorough investigation.’
Benjamin was Miss Podemski’s second child and she was categorised as high risk because her first had been born by caesarean. On the morning of May 4 last year, midwives at Frome Birth Centre in Somerset noticed decelerations in Benjamin’s heartbeat.
Miss Podemski was taken to the Royal United Hospital in Bath by ambulance and a decision was made to deliver the baby by C-section at 8pm that day. She was classed as a category three case, meaning the procedure should be performed as soon as safe to do so.
Recording a narrative verdict, senior coroner Maria Voisin said: ‘Benjamin King was born on May 5, 2016. He was born in poor condition due to a delay in his delivery which was caused when a category three caesarean section planned for May 4 was reclassified as elective and his mum was sent home.
‘This decision, together with the decision to send his mum home, resulted in Benjamin being born in a poor condition and his subsequent death.’
The initial inquest in November was halted when a midwife said part of her official statement had been removed by the hospital trust’s legal team.
She said she had questioned a consultant and a duty registrar about why the planned caesarean was postponed, but claimed details of that conversation were missing from her evidence.
Last night Avon and Somerset Police said: ‘We can confirm that the coroner has contacted us regarding this matter.’
Helen Blanchard, director of nursing and midwifery at Royal United Hospitals Bath NHS Foundation Trust, said: ‘This sad case has been distressing for everyone involved and our thoughts and sympathies remain with the family.
‘We have carried out a comprehensive investigation into the care we provided and we have made improvements to our systems as a result. We have cooperated fully with the coroner’s directions following the adjournment of the initial inquest.’
‘We will fight for justice’