Grieving mum speaks out over baby's death

From the Guardian Series, first published Thursday 26th Feb 2004.

A WINSFORD woman whose baby son died in Leighton Hospital days after he was born blames members of staff for causing the circumstances that led to his death.

Julie Jennings, 37, of Norman Drive, conceived baby Connor through IVF treatment after struggling for 15 years to have a child with her husband Simon, 38.

Connor was born at Leighton on August 3, 2002, but was immediately placed on a ventilator. Doctors established that Connor was severely brain-damaged and the decision was made by his parents to switch off their baby's ventilator on August 8.

Julie is still coming to term with her grief, but last week she made the brave decision to speak out about her family's ordeal.

She claims that her son died because of mistakes made by some members of staff who helped to deliver her baby, and has spent the past year-and-a-half piecing together information about his death she says was never volunteered.

She said: "Connor was taken from me immediately after he was born. I was banging on the walls asking what was wrong.

"The midwife came back in and said that my baby was born 'flaccid', then she just went back out. My family came in and we told them that Connor had died.

"Then the paediatrician said that they had resuscitated Connor but he was very poorly and they did not know what the cause was. They told us to be prepared to switch the ventilator off as he was severely brain damaged."

A letter from the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) to the Jennings' solicitor, David Tweedie, on June 23 last year, admits that there was 'a breach of duty and limited causation' on the part of the hospital in Connor's death.

Yesterday, Tuesday, Steve Walker, spokesman for the NHSLA, said: "What the trust has accepted responsibility for is Connor's death."

Julie believes that the two major mistakes were a misreading of the cardiotocograph (CTG) monitor that checks a baby's foetal well-being during labour and a failure to carry out foetal blood sampling.

A spokesman for Mid-Cheshire Hospitals' NHS Trust would only say: "We are unable to comment on individual cases, but can confirm that this case is being dealt with through the trust's complaints process."