Midwife said my baby was stillborn ...but he gasped for life for an hour
Camille Magill, 35, was distraught when she was told her son Alfie had been stillborn, after she went into labour two days short of 23 weeks.
But she claimed that when his ‘dead’ body was put in her arms, his heart was still beating and he was gasping for air.
Despite begging a midwife to ask doctors to try to save Alfie, Miss Magill alleged that nothing was done as they were ‘too busy’ to save her son’s life.
Guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists warns of the ‘ethical challenge’ posed by the most premature babies – born before 25 weeks – who may show signs of life but for whom intervention would be traumatic and probably unsuccessful.
A report into Alfie’s death found his parents were not warned it is normal for a very premature baby to show signs of life and that this would not affect the decision not to try resuscitation.
Miss Magill said yesterday: ‘It was a horrendous thing to experience. The midwife handed me Alfie, put her hand on my shoulder and said, “I’m sorry, but you must take some peace in knowing he passed during delivery”, and sent the
‘Too busy to save my son’s life’
doctors away. It wasn’t until he was laid on my chest that I realised he was still alive. We could see his heart beating … He was still breathing and moved his hands.
‘The doctors didn’t come back until an hour later and it was too late to save him. It’s heartbreaking.’
The mother from Liverpool had suffered complications in her previous pregnancies with Olivia, now seven, and Issabella, five, but claims nothing was done to prevent a repeat of these problems.
Two days before the birth she visited her doctor because she was in pain, but claims she was told it was just Braxton Hicks – ‘practice’ contractions – and sent home with no examinations or scans.
She went into labour in April last year at Ormskirk and District General Hospital, Lancashire, nine days before the 24week abortion limit. Miss Magill said midwives told her and partner Eddie Farrell, 44, that Alfie had died in delivery.
But she added: ‘ He should have been incubated and helped straight away. They said they were busy. Too busy to save my son’s life. The doctors could intervene but they chose not to … It felt like their decision was that my baby was worthless.’
Miss Magill said she is ‘racked with guilt’ that she did not demand someone check Alfie, adding: ‘We were begging them to get the doctors to come back.’ The mother, who has since separated from Mr Farrell, is convinced more could have been done to save Alfie if doctors had intervened earlier based on her history of premature labour.
She advised other women to ‘trust your instincts’. A report commissioned by the hospital found a number of errors.
‘A midwife can only confirm life or a stillbirth where there has never been any signs of life,’ it says. According to Miss Magill’s medical notes, a doctor eventually ‘ explained baby could have signs of life … how- ever resuscitation could cause pain and trauma … but would not cause any good outcome’.
The report found a ‘missed opportunity’ to diagnose a premature labour threat but said this would not have saved Alfie.
A 2006 report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics noted that in 1995 just 11 per cent of babies born at 23-24 weeks survived to leave hospital – but two-thirds of them had disabilities.
Professor Margaret Brazier, who chaired the committee that produced the RCOG guidelines, said at the time: ‘We don’t think it is always right to put a baby through the stress and pain of invasive treatment if the baby is unlikely to get any better and death is inevitable.’
Rob Gillies, of Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust, said: ‘Both our own and the external investigation has shown we responded in the best interests of Camille and her baby.’
One month after losing Alfie, Miss Magill found she was pregnant. But her son Archie died of meningitis aged three weeks. Following a caesarean, she had Isaac four months ago.