Payout from hospital after twin stillborn

Doncaster and Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust has now apologised to Kelly Attree, whose son Samuel died late into her pregnancy four years ago.

Mrs Atree was classed as high risk because of the twin pregnancy and because she had gestational diabetes.

She was induced at Doncaster Royal Infirmary at 37 weeks pregnant and gave birth to a healthy girl, Bliss, but Samuel was stillborn.

After she took legal action through Hudgell Solicitors, it was discovered that during scans her son was ‘over-measured’ at weeks 33 and 35, giving the inaccurate impression he was growing. Her lawyers say despite being scanned 10 times during the course of the pregnancy, staff failed to spot her son had stopped growing at 31 weeks.

The trust agreed to pay Mrs Attree damages compensating her for Samuel’s funeral expenses and the cost of psychological therapy which she has been recommended to undergo as a result of the trauma.

Mrs Attree, from Mexborough, said: “They have never investigated what happened and I think they should have. Even though I know it wasn’t my fault, I beat myself up because I had gestational diabetes and wonder if that was part of why it happened.”

Sewa Singh, medical director for the trust, said: “On behalf of the Trust, I want to say sorry to Mrs Attree and her family for their tragic loss. As ever we will seek to identify any lessons we can learn from this sad event to continue to improve quality and safety for mothers and babies.”