Woman has baby girl after medics said her unborn child was dead

A mother who was told her unborn baby was dead has successfully given birth after insisting 
that medics performed a second scan.

Hazel Wiggins, from Prudhoe, Northumberland, had been told her child had died and had returned to hospital to begin taking a series of abortion pills.

But as medics at Hexham General Hospital insisted that she took the tablets she demanded they performed another scan.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

She told the Evening Chronicle: “They kept saying that I needed to take the tablets and I said that I didn’t want to.

“I told them I wanted another scan. It went on for about 20 minutes.”

Eventually Mrs Wiggins got her way and convinced the midwives to perform another scan, which to their shock showed her baby was fit and well.

The 36-year-old has now given birth to baby Amelia and has received a full apology from the NHS trust involved, which said 
it had made changes to procedures.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The trust said that two scans were now always performed when there were concerns about a foetus.

Dr Eliot Sykes, clinical director of emergency surgery and elective care at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We have recently met with Mrs Wiggins and her husband to apologise wholeheartedly for the unnecessary distress caused following the misinterpretation of her initial scan with us at Hexham General Hospital last year.

“We have fully investigated the circumstances surrounding this unusual incident and made some important changes to ensure that two scans are always carried out as a matter of course whenever there are concerns about the viability of the foetus.

He added: “We appreciate this must have been a very worrying time for Mr and Mrs Wiggins and would like to reassure them that we have taken all appropriate steps to prevent this happening in future.”