Trust pays after baby death

Danielle Brown was seven months pregnant in February 2023 when medical staff at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle decided to discharge her.

The 31-year-old from North Shields had been admitted for pre-eclampsia, a condition that can threaten both mother and child.

Doctors initially recommended she stay in the hospital until delivery because of the risks associated with her diagnosis.

A different consultant reviewed her case the next day and cleared her to leave on February 14.

Brown returned to the facility the following morning after feeling unwell.

Staff at the maternity assessment unit first suggested she had a stomach bug.

She insisted on a full examination and waited 90 minutes for a doctor to see her.

Ultrasound scans revealed that her daughter Maisie had no heartbeat.

The hospital told the couple that the baby had died.

Instead of arranging for an immediate delivery, staff gave Brown a booklet for bereaved parents.

They instructed her to phone ahead to book a specific time slot for the birth.

Brown described the moment as devastating because no one explained the cause of the death to her family at that time. "Hearing that with no compassion angered me so much," she said. "When it was confirmed Maisie had died, we burst into tears. Nobody explained what had happened to Maisie," Brown recalled. "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 for ever." Brown and her partner Anthony Miller recently reached a settlement with Newcastle upon Tyne hospitals NHS foundation trust. The amount of the payment was not disclosed. The trust admitted it breached its duty of care. Officials stated that Maisie would likely have survived if her mother had not been sent home during that first hospital stay. Faisal Ali from the law firm Irwin Mitchell represented the couple in the case. He noted that pre-eclampsia requires close monitoring and that the system has deep-rooted problems. "Put simply, maternity services aren't good enough, resulting in mums and babies being put at risk because of deep-rooted problems nationally," Ali 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." The couple now has a son named Harrison, who is two years old. "While we feel so blessed to have Harrison, it remains difficult knowing Maisie should be here with us too," Brown said. "She will always be part of our family." Ian Joy, an executive director at the trust, apologized for the fall in standards. "We fully accept that aspects of the care we provided fell short of the standards the family had every right to expect," Joy said. The trust conducted a detailed review of the incident in 2023. It improved its urgent assessment procedures for women arriving with unexpected symptoms. Joy added that the hospital recently received an assessment showing it performs well against national standards.