Professional negligence leads to baby’s death
A coroner has attacked a hospital over the death of a baby, after it was warned about its lack of midwives.
It has been revealed that an inquest into the death of the baby showed that Milton Keynes general hospital had been criticised by the independent health watchdog in 2008.
The condemnation came after its low standards of care and also an overstretched maternity ward. Despite the investigation, it appears nothing was improved.
The inquest heard that the baby was born by caesarean section in May 2009 after her mother was admitted to hospital with stomach pains.
She was initially refused a caesarean section but went into labour that night after the baby's heartbeat became erratic, necessitating the emergency procedure she had wanted in the first place. The mother, a student, told the inquest she had agreed to a planned induction after meeting a consultant. The baby died shortly after her birth early on 9 May.
The recent case is made even more shocking and appalling by the fact that the coroner, Thomas Osborne, had carried out an inquest in 2007 into the death of another baby, who was born by caesarean section but died after monitor readings were misinterpreted.
The investigation by the Healthcare Commission was carried out after the death of that child. It exposed a shortage of beds and midwives which meant mothers were being discharged prematurely. The unit also had a readmission rate nearly three times the national average.
Negligent behaviour
Osborne deemed the professional negligence as “nothing short of scandalous.” Hospital staff admitted faults and failures with the way it acted.
The consultant of the recent scandal stated: “The care in this case should have been consultant-led and right at the outset I am happy to acknowledge that the care did not come up to a standard that I would have expected.” He said the mother was considered “low risk” in cardiac terms but when she came into hospital with stomach pain, would have been “high risk”.
Osborne also said recommendations about bed numbers had not been met. On this he stated: “I agree entirely that in an ideal world we would have greater accommodation. Milton Keynes is not unique. I think everyone acknowledges within the department we need higher staffing levels and more space.”
After the investigation, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) which replaced the Healthcare Commission last year, condemned the hospital for failing to improve its maternity care quality.
Bernadette McGhie a professional negligence expert commented: “The death of [the baby] is an absolute tragedy. It’s clear that the unit was still entirely unprepared to cope with the pressure of work in the maternity ward and [she]died as a result.
“There don’t seem to have been any improvements since last year’s damning assessment. These are just two cases involving the tragic death of a baby that has come to the attention of the coroner. We have no idea how many mothers and babies have suffered injuries as a result of the failings in this maternity department.
“Sadly, I deal with many cases of this kind but rarely has a coroner been so outspoken in his criticism. I hope that the NHS Trust will now take steps to protect new and unborn babies and their mothers so that no other family will needlessly suffer the loss of a baby in this way”.
Updated on 14/12/2009