Doctors failed to warn mother about pregnancy risk

The baby was born at the Women and Children's Hospital in Hull

A mother who was not informed her baby was at risk of being born with a life-threatening illness has received £75,000 from a health trust, after it accepted failing them.

The girl was born in July 2020 at Hull's Women and Children's Hospital, but died two months later.

Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust accepted the woman should have been referred to specialists for counselling on the risks when she was 12 weeks' pregnant.

Dr Kate Wood, group chief medical officer for NHS Humber Health Partnership, said: "We regret that our care fell below the standards that both the family and our teams would expect.”

The woman and her partner had previously lost a child, aged four-and-a-half months, who was born with a rare genetic condition due to both parents being carriers of a mutated gene.

Lawyers for the woman argued that, when she became pregnant again, her medical history should have triggered the involvement of a specialist obstetric team, which would then have led to a review by a genetics team.

However, as that did not happen, the mother only realised something was wrong when she was told during a check-up at 36 weeks that her baby was not putting on weight.

'Heartbreaking loss'

When the baby was born via a caesarean section at nearly 38 weeks, she was struggling to breathe and had to be transferred to neonatal care, the legal team said.

The baby was diagnosed with a birth condition associated with incomplete brain development, as well as a lethal form of spinal muscular atrophy.

The mother also suffered a secondary post-birth haemorrhage and needed treatment in theatre and for a wound infection.

The woman and her baby were later discharged, with palliative care given to the baby.

Samantha Gardner, of Hudgell Solicitors, said: “The failings of the trust in this case led to this mother enduring a second, heartbreaking loss of a baby just weeks after they had been born.

“Of course, to have to choose a termination would not have been without significant trauma itself also, but it would certainly have been the option she would have chosen.

"In the end, she had just a matter of weeks with her baby girl, who she knew from the very first day of her life would not be with them for long."

'Future learning'

In a statement, Dr Wood said: "The trust has admitted breaching its duty of care towards the mother and her child several years ago, and would like to apologise once again for the distress caused, as well as the missed opportunities in investigating and communicating the potential risks.

“As with any incident resulting in harm, we are committed to future learning. The incident was fully investigated when it took place several years ago, and we have since taken a number of steps to reduce the likelihood of repetition, including improving communication between teams and increasing capacity to carry out foetal scans.

“We regret that our care fell below the standards that both the family and our teams would expect.”

The trust paid the sum to the family as part of an out-of-court settlement.

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