AN IRISH WOMAN whose baby was stillborn at Nottingham City Hospital after a six-day labour is campaigning to change the law on infant inquests.
Sarah Hawkins and her husband Jack want England to follow Northern Ireland’s lead and permit inquests into stillbirths.
The couple believe the lessons learnt from such inquests will prevent further deaths in similar situations.
It follows a review of Mrs Hawkins’ case, which found that her daughter Harriet’s death in April 2016 was “almost certainly preventable”.
The investigation found 13 failures in the delivery of care to Mrs Hawkins, whose daughter was delivered nine hours after dying.
These included failure to record all phone calls to the maternity team, delay in administering an epidural and failure to take a full clinical history.
Speaking to BBC Newsline, Mrs Hawkins, who is from Banbridge in Co. Down, said she wasn’t consulted during Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) Trust’s review of her case, which found no fault on behalf of the hospital.
"However, they hadn't actually asked us what happened," she said.
"They weren't aware that I'd been in labour for six days so really they had conducted their own investigation without having our input."
Describing her pregnancy as low-risk, Mrs Hawkins explained how she had reached full term when her contractions began the day after her due date.
Theses lasted for six days, during which she had 12 contacts with the hospital and was admitted twice.
“On the final admission I was told to come in as something had started to hang out of me,” Said Mrs Hawkins, who is also an employee of NUH Trust along with her husband.
"When I got there, I was put in the 'birth sanctuary suite' which we now know should have been an obstetric emergency.
“I was examined and they told me that they could see the baby's head.
"They set up the water bath, then they struggled to find Harriet's heartbeat, so they called the doctor.
“The doctor scanned and said I'm sorry, your baby is dead'.
"I remember screaming, I remember just being numb from head to toe, I just felt like I was in a nightmare and I couldn't wake up."
According to Sky News, the couple plan to make referrals to the CPS and the Health and Safety Executive, as well as referrals based on the report of specific staff to the professional bodies.
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