A grieving family wants answers after a pregnant teen aged 14 sadly lost her baby when she became seriously ill – and claim she was ‘completely let down due to her age’
A family has said they have been let down following a distressing case in which a teenage girl lost her baby daughter when she became sick. Young Sophie Jones became pregnant with a baby girl aged just 14 and her mum Louise wants answers to questions about the care she was given.
“We can’t accept what’s happened,” said Louise after it was decided by doctors that Sophie would be treated for a spreading urine infection at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital instead of Liverpool Women’s Hospital. Officials from both hospitals have said there was no ideal place for the girl to be treated due to the complexity of the case.
Sophie’s baby Rose died in utero and among Louise’s grievances is a delay to a caesarean section. She says she has spoken to an independent expert who claims that had Sophie received specialist maternity care and a caesarean been performed, the baby might have survived. Louise claims that Sophie was “completely let down due to her age”.
A report by the LiverpoolEcho understands that in the hours after she was admitted to Alder Hey, the question of where to care for Sophie and her unborn baby was repeatedly discussed. Multiple specialists from both hospitals were involved in the decision to keep Sophie at Alder Hey.
Liverpool Women’s Hospital does not have an adult intensive care unit, and it is understood this was a key reason why medics decided to keep Sophie at Alder Hey rather than transfer her to Liverpool Women’s.
The events developed from when Sophie became pregnant at the age of 14. Louise called the news a “massive shock” but it was agreed by both families that the pregnancy would go ahead. The plan was for Louise to look after the child while Sophie continued her schooling.
Sophie received special care and monitoring and was placed under an enhanced midwife team while she was pregnant. A social services team “assessed everything” around the circumstance of the pregnancy then closed the case.
At 27 weeks, a scan showed Sophie’s organs were functioning normally and the baby was healthy. She became seriously ill just a week later, Louise claims. “She was vomiting and couldn’t keep anything down,” said Louise. “She’d had a fever the night before, so I called the Liverpool Women’s Hospital about it.”
Liverpool Women’s advised Louise to take Sophie straight to A&E. After being refused by a nearby hospital because of her age, she was admitted to Alder Hey for specialist paediatric care on April 7.
It was discovered at Alder Hey that Sophie had a urine infection that had gone into a kidney and she needed a nephrology operation, described to the teen as a “standard procedure under normal circumstances” but “not a common procedure to carry out during pregnancy”, according to Louise.
It was decided Sophie should remain at Alder Hey to receive treatment from acute paediatric care specialists. Throughout the day, maternal health experts from Liverpool Women’s provided advice over the phone to medics caring for Sophie at Alder Hey.
On April 8, her condition rapidly deteriorated and she was taken into theatre for emergency surgery on her kidney. Prior to surgery, a midwife from Liverpool Women’s came to assess her. According to Louise, the midwife said the baby was healthy and that her heartbeat was normal.
Sophie’s operation did not go as planned and her kidney burst during the procedure. The surgeon also detected signs of sepsis as concerns arose the teen would not survive. Louise was told Sophie’s organs were shutting down as she was placed in an induced coma for several days in an ICU.
On April 9, Louise was informed her granddaughter had died in utero. Later, an unconscious Sophie went into labour. It was too late for a caesarean to be performed to deliver the baby, so she would have to give birth while unconscious. “I didn’t think it was possible – I didn’t understand how she could deliver naturally when she was sedated,” said Louise. “I had to witness my granddaughter being pushed and pulled from my unconscious little girl.”
Weighing just 2lb 8oz, little baby Rose was delivered and placed on Sophie’s chest by Louise so she had “first contact”. Three days later, Sophie was woken up. She put her hand to her stomach and said, ‘mum where’s my baby?’ and I had to tell her about Rose. It had to come from me – but I couldn’t understand it myself. She just cried and cried.”
Sophie spent the following two weeks in hospital, and her education was badly affected as she tried to recover from what happened to her and her baby. According to Louise, she has “good days and bad”, but is “doing better” than before. She is currently studying for her GCSEs.
In a joint statement, Liverpool Women’s NHS Foundation Trust and Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust said: “We understand and appreciate the distress that these events caused to those concerned. The safety of those we care for is always our top priority. Sometimes in very complex cases this care needs to be provided by multiple organisations and specialist teams.
“As acute and specialist services are provided across multiple hospitals in the city, there is no single optimal location for providing maternity care to young people under 16, particularly those with significant additional clinical needs, due to the specialist expertise required. We will take lessons from this case and will continue to work together and with other partners across the region to improve the care we provide.”
The names of the individuals involved in this story have been changed to protect their identities.
