NHS care of Hamilton couple whose baby was stillborn is slammed by the Ombudsman

Oct 29 2009 by Gary Fanning, Hamilton Advertiser

THE Ombudsman has blasted the care given to a heartbroken Hamilton couple whose baby was stillborn.

Barbara Mane and her partner Robert Devine told how their lives have been ruined after their daughter Amalia needlessly died from an umbilical cord accident at Wishaw General Hospital.

The couple believe their daughter’s death was avoidable and warned that unless there is a full investigation into antenatal care services more babies will be at risk of brain damage and death.

Barbara (35), told the Advertiser she will never get over her daughter’ death.

“It has destroyed our lives, it has destroyed our happiness,” she said.

“We want justice for Amalia and prevent other babies from damage or death.

“We don’t want another couple to go through the same heartache that we suffered.

“There is not one day that goes past that we don’t think of our baby and what she would look like today.

“We were never offered any professional counselling.

“We had to go back home without our baby and deal with it.”

The parents believe they would have been celebrating Amalia’s second birthday last Wednesday had doctors and midwives acted on a number of warning signs.

They include:

lA deceleration of the baby’s heartbeat not picked up during a CTG scan carried out during the 34th week of pregnancy, after Barbara reported a lack of foetal movement.

l And, two weeks later, a private scan which showed the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby’s neck in a condition known as Nuchal Cord.

The parents say their concerns over the two problems were ignored by NHS Lanarkshire staff and the healthy eight-pound baby with red chubby checks died due to an interruption of the blood and oxygen flow, caused by compression of the umbilical cord, on October 21, 2007.

The couple were devastated by their baby’s death and asked the public services Ombudsman to investigate the care Barbara received during her pregnancy.

Now almost two years after Amalia’s death, the Ombudsman office have published the results of their probe and it’s a damning indictment of the antenatal care provided by NHS Lanarkshire.

The Ombudsman report states: “I upheld their complaint that the care and treatment provided to Mrs C (Barbra Mane) was inadequate as I found that a deceleration of the foetal heart rate was not noted or followed up.

“I also upheld the complaint that inadequate support was provided to Mr and Ms C after their bereavement, and partially upheld the complaint about the Board’s response, as full information was not provided to Mr and Mrs C at the time of their complaint.”

Following the case, the Ombudsman recommended the NHS Lanarkshire Health Board review the following:

lMidwives’ training.

lUse and purpose of telephone call records.

lSupervision arrangements for antenatal clinics.

l “Standard care pathway” for bereaved parents.

NHS Lanarkshire were also ordered to apologise to the couple for their failure to respond appropriately to the foetal heart rate deceleration.

They were also rapped for failing to communicate properly with the couple and for the time taken to provide them with information about counselling.

The couple welcomed the Ombudsman’s findings and called for a probe into the way infant death is registered and classified, and antenatal care.

The couple are now considering legal action against NHS Lanarkshire.

The couple visit their daughter’s grave at the Bent Cemetery every day.

Self-employed electrical/mechanical technician Robert (43), a former pupil of John Ogilvie High and St Cuthbert’s Primary School, said he can’t forgive NHS Lanarkshire for his daughter’s death.

“NHS knew things were going wrong, they played a game of Russian roulette, guessing and gambling with Amalia’s life and we lost her. It’s not acceptable.

“It’s horrendous what we are going through and it could have been avoided. Many of these deaths can be prevented.

“Amalia was a chubby, healthy baby and her only disadvantage was Nuchal cord causing cord compression.

“But because of the inadequate antenatal care service in Scotland more babies are suffering brain damage or dying needlessly.”

The latest figures show that there were 358 stillbirths in Scotland last year.

And 67 per cent of stillbirths in Scotland were registered unexplained compared to 55 per cent in the rest of the UK.

Robert said that research indicates a staggering 60 per cent of children with cerebral palsy suffered the condition due to umbilical cord accidents and birth trauma.

An NHS Lanarkshire spokeswoman said: "We have studied the Ombudsman's report.

“Discussions are ongoing and an action plan is currently being compiled and implemented based on the recommendations.”

The couple were helped to understand how they lost baby Amalia and to come to terms with their loss by Umbilical Cord Accident specialist Dr Jason Collins, who set up the Pregnancy Institute in America.

The couple are set to launch a campaign to raise awareness of umbilical cord accidents.

Anyone interested in the campaign or would like further advice on the subject can contact amaliadev@aol.com

lSee next week’s Advertiser for more on the couple’s campaign.