Parents who all lost their babies after the Nottingham University Hospitals Trust pleased guilty to provide safe care and treatment fold a court about the impact of losing their children
Devastated parents who all lost their babies have told a court of the failures which led to the deaths of their tiny children – as the trust said it was “truly sorry”.
Adele O’Sullivan, Kahlani Rawson and Quinn Parker died within four months of each other in 2021 while under the care of Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH). The trust, which runs the Queen’s Medical Centre and City Hospital, pleaded guilty to failures to provide safe care and treatment to the three babies and their mothers, resulting in harm or loss, at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court.
The court heard the parents of Quinn – Emmie Studencki and Ryan Parker – were not properly consulted or told to look out for danger signs in the days leading to his death at just one day old. Ms Studencki had been rushed to hospital with a major haemorrhage two days earlier, losing at least 1.2 litres of blood before arriving at City Hospital. However, these details “did not find their way” from the ambulance crew to the maternity ward, Nottinghamshire Live reported.
Dr Miles Taylor, an expert witness used by the CQC, said by the time their son was born by emergency C-section he was in “poor condition” and “pale and floppy”. In a victim impact statement read out in the courtroom, Ms Studencki said she had been “broken” by her son’s death.
She said: “Everything about who I am has changed for the worse since Quinn died. Part of me died with him. Quinn should be alive, he should be playing with his sister and getting ready to start school. There should be pictures of him around the house, not just a handful of him on life support. His precious life was stolen. This keeps me awake at night.”
The court also heard of failures in the care of Daniela O’Sullivan and her daughter Adele, who died just 26 minutes after being born on April 7. There were delays in the expectant mum’s examination, recognition of labour, and diagnosis of the cause of the vaginal bleeding.
In a statement read out in court, Ms O’Sullivan said staff ignored her medical history and left her “screaming in pain”. She said: “I was left in a bedroom more or less on my own for eight hours. My daughter Adele lost her life because of a lack of medical attention for many hours. People who were supposed to help me didn’t help but harmed me, physically and mentally, forever.
“I lost my trust in the whole system. We lost our daughter and all our special moments. We will never see Adele’s first steps, her happy little smiles, birthdays, Christmases, all those special family moments.”
Kahlani Rawson, who died at four days old at City Hospital on June 15, was similarly failed by staff, the court heard, who misinterpreted CTG scans, causing a delay in his delivery. At 37 weeks into the pregnancy, his mother – who was only 16 at the time – had contacted the maternity triage desk to report period-like adnominal pain and her baby had not moved in 24 hours.
The court heard NUH accepted the monitoring of her condition was “poor from the outset” of that point. Mr Donoghue requested NUH pay costs to the families, £22k for Quinn’s, £26k for Adele’s and £19k for Kahlani’s.
Ahead of the hearing, NUH chief executive Anthony May said: “The mothers and families in these cases have had to endure things no family should after the care provided by our hospitals failed them, and for that I am truly sorry. These families have shown incredible strength during this time, and I can only imagine how painful it must have been for them to share their experiences again.
“The Trust recognises the concerns raised by the CQC and has acted upon them to improve the services we provide to women and families in our care. The changes made mean we are working in a different environment than 2021 and we believe we now have a safer and more effective maternity service.”
