Bradford hospital tells mum her healthy baby has died

Chelsea Muff, 32, spent two weeks grieving after a sonographer told her she had lost the child following an ultrasound scan.

But she requested a second scan two weeks later and her child was found to still be alive.

Miss Muff, who is now almost four months pregnant, said: “She said there was an empty sac – she said it had gone. I was shocked and upset.

“After the first scan a consultant came in and confirmed that I had miscarried and gave me the option to book in for an evacuation procedure, take a tablet there and then that would bring labour, or wait for it to come away naturally.

“I chose to wait. If I had taken the tablet I could have terminated my baby and never known.”

Miss Muff, of Bradford, mother to Corey, 14, and Destiny, 11, was seven weeks pregnant when she suffered a small bleed on June 24.

She attended the accident and emergency department at Bradford Royal Infirmary and was given an appointment.

It was here she was given the abdominal ultrasound scan which appeared to show she had miscarried. She later discovered that because the pregnancy was so early she should have been offered an internal ultrasound scan.

She was booked in for a vacuum suction on July 8 but never attended because she was still upset. She then rang to ask if they could carry out a second scan.

It was at this scan on July 15 that she discovered she was still pregnant and heard her baby’s heartbeat for the first time.

She said: “The member of staff was shocked but really pleased for me. She said, ‘You have a live baby’. I didn’t believe it. I had been so upset and couldn’t believe this could have happened.

“It was only later, after discussing it with my partner, who was really mad about what I had been put through, that I realised I could have killed my baby by taking the tablet.”

Miss Muff has submitted a formal complaint in the hope no other women have to go through the emotional turmoil she suffered.

“How can they tell you your baby has died and the next minute tell you it is alive?” she said.

“Of course I am happy that my baby is alive but my emotions are still up and down. I worry that if they made a mistake the first time they could make another one and maybe got the second scan wrong.”

A spokesman for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust confirmed an investigation was under way. He said: “We sympathise with Miss Muff for the distress she has experienced. The Foundation Trust is taking all necessary actions to investigate the circumstances and has contacted Miss Muff directly to discuss her concerns.”