ON HER 5-YEAR BATTLE FOR JUSTICE Heartbreaking
This is the moment dad Terry Hickson met his newborn son for the first and only time. Three days later he died after a series of hospital blunders
Foundation Trust accepted their failings and, last May, Louise received the compensation.
But the pain lingers even now and Louise said: “The hospital made mistake after mistake and their catalogue of errors led to the death of my husband. I miss him every day and still struggle to accept he’s gone.
“It makes it so much harder that his death could have been prevented.
“I had our gorgeous son on the Friday and by Wednesday Terry was gone. I am still devastated. He should have been here to bring up his boy.
“Instead he was taken away from us. If the doctors had done their job, he would still be here today.”
Louise has been left suffering from depression and the painful condition
fibromyalgia, brought on by the trauma. She can’t work and says every day has been a battle.
Louise continued: “On my darkest days, I wanted to end it all. But I had to stay strong for my kids. Xander knows his dad is with the stars and he knows daddy loved him very much when he was in mummy’s tummy. It has been a waking nightmare carrying on without Terry. The anger that his death could have been avoided has never left me.
“I fought the hospital, because I wanted an apology – I needed them to acknowledge what they had done.
“I’m so relieved this is all over. The hospital dragged it on for years and every day was hell. I will never forgive them. But now I can finally move on, for my sake and my children’s sake.” A spokesperson for Wirral University of Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “We would like to express our sincere condolences to Mr Hickson’s family. We are extremely sorry for their loss.
“Regrettably errors were made back in 2012 and our care fell below our usual high standards.
“We have learned from this incident and have since strengthened our approach to patient safety and quality.”