Newborn baby died after 61-hour delivery delay

A baby died because of a  61-hour delay in delivering him at an overstretched maternity unit, an inquest heard yesterday.
Teacher Sarah Dawson, 33, was sobbing in agony after her waters broke and she tried to give birth naturally.
It was more than two days later before her baby boy, Oliver, was born by caesarean section. He died 42 minutes later as a result of an infection picked up as she waited to give birth.

Attempts to deliver Oliver were first delayed due to hospital policy to wait 24 hours to see if labour starts naturally after a woman’s waters break.
This was extended to 38 hours because ‘assisted births’ cannot be carried out at night at Dewsbury Hospital, the inquest was told.

Miss Dawson then had to wait much of the next day because midwives and doctors in the delivery suite were too busy to deal with her.
More problems ensued when a doctor was unable to take a sample of the baby’s blood to check on his condition because a piece of medical equipment was missing, the hearing in Bradford was told.
Eventually the caesarean section was carried out and Oliver was born with barely a heartbeat and could not breathe unaided.
A post mortem revealed that he died from pneumonia due to an infection which had developed after his mother’s waters broke. Miss Dawson and her partner Phillip Schofield, an electrician, of Morley, Leeds, have accused Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust of negligence. 

She said: ‘I have been to see my own doctor who is of the opinion that had my baby been delivered in 24 to 48 hours following my waters breaking – rather than 61 hours – he would be  with us today.
‘I’m now off work sick with depression and I’m finding it hard just to get through each day.’ Her baby was due on August 3 last year – until her waters broke at 36 weeks at 7.30pm on Monday, July 12.
The hearing was told that under national guidelines pregnant women in her situation should be brought to delivery in 24 hours. However, in Miss Dawson’s case it took more than twice as long.
Consultant Dr Sadiq Shama said the delivery suite was busy because of the number of mothers and the lack of midwives at the time. ‘If I was concerned about her and the baby we would have stopped someone else’s ongoing care to start the induction,’ he added. 

Another consultant, Dr Muhammed Sandow, who was unable to take a fetal blood sample in the run-up to the caesarean because the necessary amnioscope was not available, said of the pregnant mother: ‘She was in tears due to the painful contractions.’ He said the risks of her developing an infection were obvious by this stage.
When delivery with the help of an epidural wasn’t successful, medical staff initially decided upon a forceps delivery, but the boy was  eventually born by caesarean at 8.15am on Thursday, July 15.



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