Hospital says sorry to mum whose baby died after midwives wrongly sent her home twice

Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals Trust admitted that the midwives should have instead chosen to deliver the baby by Caesarean section.

Laura Tate, a 35-year-old mother of four from Hull, had been admitted to the city’s Women and Children’s Hospital to be induced because she had begun to suffer from high blood pressure.

But when an attempt failed to bring on labour, she was sent home and told to return in five days’ time.

On the second occasion, midwives twice recorded dips in her baby’s heart rate, but she was again sent home.

Her son, Khalifa, was stillborn two days later.

Mrs Tate said she was “heartbroken” to discover that the child’s recorded cause of death was “unknown”, and that he had died in the days before he was delivered, while she had been in the care of the midwives.

She said: “It’s heartbreaking to think that if somebody had just done their job properly I would not have lost my son.

“I am angry at myself because I knew something wasn’t right. But you put your trust in the staff that they know what they’re doing.”

The Trust admitted it breached its duty of care to Mrs Tate and agreed to apologise and pay damages.

Sarah Daysley, of Hudgell Solicitors, who represented Mrs Tate in the legal action, said: “The mistakes made in this case are unforgivable.

“Lessons must be learned from this case as the monitoring had been done, but the concerns raised by that, and by Mrs Tate herself, were ignored.”

A spokesman for the Trust said: “We would like to offer our sincere apologies for the errors made in Mrs Tate’s care.

“Since the incident took place we have worked with Health Education England to improve staff training and education which is specifically designed to reduce the likelihood of any reoccurrence.”