‘As grieving parents, we should not be having to push like this’

A COUPLE battling to find out how their daughter tragically died at a Yorkshire hospital are calling for a change in the law to allow independent investigations of stillbirths.

Eadie Shaw suffered a double skull fracture during her emergency delivery at Dewsbury and District Hospital two years ago which followed a series of errors by staff who failed to pick up on key signs of problems during the previous hours of labour.

Her parents Laura and Shane say despite painstaking efforts to piece together what happened, they still do not know how she suffered the injuries at the hospital which has been at the centre of concerns following a number of serious incidents during births.

Now they are calling on Ministers to give coroners powers to inquire into stillbirths, which they believe would have a major impact on reducing their numbers and also lead to improved standards of maternity care.

Mrs Shaw, 33, of Batley, said it was a full eight weeks after Eadie’s death before they found out mistakes had been made.

They were told a full investigation would be carried out but they were unhappy with the hospital’s internal review and had been battling ever since to find out what happened.

“As grieving parents, we shouldn’t be having to push like this,” she said.

“One thing I find really frustrating is that if a baby has taken one breath, it is referred to the coroner but if it’s classed as a stillbirth it’s outside their jurisdiction and it’s all down to the hospital to do an investigation.”

The UK has among the highest rates of stillbirths in Europe, with 4,000 a year, but she said there had been significant falls since they had been independently reviewed in countries including Australia, the Netherlands and Norway.

Her husband Shane, 35, said it had been a “mammoth task” to find out what had happened.

“If there is something that has gone wrong, it needs to be changed,” he said.

“But as a couple it’s so frustrating because it could still be happening. It just seems as if everything is brushed aside.”

Mrs Shaw, a script editor for TV’s Emmerdale, had a normal pregnancy with Eadie but her delivery on August 8, 2009 ran into difficulties when her baby had an unusual brow presentation which meant labour did not progress normally and she could not be delivered naturally. Staff in the maternity unit failed to spot Eadie was in the wrong position.

Mrs Shaw was given drugs to heighten her contractions but these only made the problems worse and Eadie’s heart traces began to show signs of distress which were also not picked up by staff.

Eventually, Mrs Shaw was given an emergency Caesarian section but tragically Eadie suffered a fractured skull as she was extricated in a procedure medical records show took only three minutes despite her awkward position. The couple only realised mistakes had been made during the delivery weeks later in a routine appointment when they were given the results of a post-mortem examination.

“We were shocked. We thought how on earth did that happen? At that point, we realised there was something seriously wrong,” she said.

They had been assured the hospital’s review would find out what happened but it failed to explain how the fractures occurred, only that it was suspected “around or during the birth of the baby”.

She added: “We didn’t feel the hospital wanted to ask the right questions or get to the bottom of what happened.”

They took successful legal action through personal injury specialists Irwin Mitchell but demanded further answers and in January Wakefield’s primary care trust agreed to commission two independent reports by an expert doctor and midwife, who both found that the outcome could have been different if mistakes during labour had been avoided.

Their reports made a series of recommendations for changes at Dewsbury which came as bosses at the Mid Yorkshire NHS trust, which runs the hospital, were examining details of an independent review of women’s services including maternity care they had themselves ordered.

But the couple remain concerned little will change at the Dewsbury maternity unit where there were seven serious incidents between November and February including deaths of babies when problems arose during labour.

“They told us they were learning lessons from Eadie’s death but we keep reading about other deaths at Dewsbury hospital and they keep saying they are learning from mistakes,” said Mrs Shaw.

“As parents who have lost a child, we need to know that what happened won’t happen again to another family.”

The couple, who have been together for 17 years, celebrated the first birthday of their son Jesse last week.

Mrs Shaw had refused to give birth at Dewsbury and instead they went to Leeds General Infirmary where they described staff, who were fully aware of their traumautic ordeal 12 months before, as “absolutely fantastic”.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Justice said: “A coroner can only investigate the death of a baby where it can be shown there were signs of life or that the baby lived independently of the mother.

“Since 2008, new procedures were introduced in hospitals to ensure stillbirths are reviewed. If necessary unusual trends in stillbirths are investigated by an independent team.

“In light of those safeguards, we have no plans to change the law.”

Mid Yorkshire’s chief nurse Tracey McErlain-Burns said the trust had openly discussed findings of reviews and actions it had put in place with the couple.

“I would like to confirm that we have progressed all the recommendations,” she said.

Daily audits of staff practice were being carried out and new arrangements for training in heart monitoring were in place.

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