NHS told first-time mother to book appointment to give birth to her dead baby

A first-time mother whose unborn baby died was sent home from the hospital with a booklet for bereaved parents and told to book an appointment to give birth.

Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust conceded a breach of duty over the treatment of Danielle Brown, and accepted that her daughter, Maisie, would have survived had her mother not been discharged during her first admission.

Ms Brown, a 31-year-old barista from North Shields, North Tyneside, and her partner, Anthony Miller, have received an undisclosed settlement from the trust.

Ms Brown said: “When it was confirmed Maisie had died, we burst into tears.

“Nobody explained what had happened to Maisie. I was just given a booklet for bereaved parents and told to book a slot to give birth.

“Hearing that with no compassion angered me so much.”

Seven months into the pregnancy, in February 2023, Ms Brown felt unwell and attended the Royal Victoria Infirmary (RVI), Newcastle, where she was diagnosed with pre-eclampsia, a serious pregnancy complication. Monitoring had also raised concerns about Maisie’s heart rate.

The following day, a consultant obstetrician said Ms Brown should remain in hospital until she gave birth, but she was discharged 24 hours later on February 14 following a review by a different consultant.

A day later, Ms Brown phoned the RVI’s maternity assessment unit with more concerns but was told she probably had a stomach bug.

She insisted on being seen and returned to the hospital, waited 90 minutes to be assessed and was told medics could not find Maisie’s heartbeat.

Ms Brown and Mr Miller were told that she had died.

The devastated mother returned to the hospital on February 17 to give birth to Maisie following a 10-hour labour.

Ms Brown said: “When me and Anthony found out I was expecting we were overjoyed.

“We bought things for Maisie’s nursery, bought clothes and had a gender reveal party. It was such a happy time for the whole family.

“Although I knew I was at risk of pre-eclampsia, everything seemed to be going well until I woke up with swelling.

“When I was transferred to RVI, I thought we’d be well looked after.

“A consultant told me I wasn’t well and needed to stay in hospital until I had my baby, so when I was sent home, I was concerned – but I trusted what I was being told.

“When I started suffering from pain, I rang the maternity unit but couldn’t get through for an hour.

“When I explained my symptoms, I was dismissed and told I had a stomach bug.

“When I finally had a scan, the screen was turned away and there was no sound. I said to Ant: ‘I think she’s gone’.”

Symptoms of pre-eclampsia

NHS

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Early signs of pre-eclampsia include high blood pressure (hypertension) and having protein in your urine.

Other symptoms include:

• a severe headache that does not go away with simple painkillers
• vision problems, such as blurred vision or seeing flashing lights
• pain below the ribs
• sudden swelling of the face, hands or feet
• feeling very unwell
• heartburn that does not go away with heartburn medicines
• being sick (vomiting)

Faisal Ali, of solicitors Irwin Mitchell, said pre-eclampsia was serious and required close monitoring.

He said: “What happened to Danielle and Maisie vividly highlights the human cost of care failings and how families left needing answers and access to specialist support are left trying to pick up the pieces. Sadly, this isn’t an isolated case and we represent hundreds of families nationally affected by maternity failings.

“Put simply, maternity services aren’t good enough, resulting in mums and babies being put at risk because of deep-rooted problems nationally.”

The couple have since had a son, named Harrison, who is two.

Ms Brown said: “While we feel so blessed to have Harrison, it remains difficult knowing Maisie should be here with us too. She will always be part of our family.

“More needs to be done not only to improve maternity care but also, when something goes wrong, families need proper and compassionate support.

“After saying goodbye to Maisie, we had to walk through a labour ward seeing parents going home with their babies.

“That will stay with me forever.”

Ian Joy, executive director of Nursing, Midwifery and Allied Health Professionals at the hospital trust, said: “Maisie’s family have experienced a devastating loss which has undoubtedly had a profound effect on everyone who loved her.

“We fully accept that aspects of the care we provided fell short of the standards the family had every right to expect and offer a heartfelt apology for this.

“Following a detailed review in 2023, we improved urgent assessment for women who come to our maternity services with unexpected symptoms or suspected complications and introduced quicker escalation procedures when there are concerns.

“National standards have recently been published for this aspect of maternity care and our services have recently been assessed as performing well against the main elements.

“Our priority is to make sure all standards are exceeded across the service.”