Hello!

7 Comments

Her daughter was sadly stillborn after a midwife told her to go home and take paracetamol.

Angela Owens, from Warrington, Cheshire, had been rushed into Warrington Hospital after developing severe pains on a shopping trip.

But despite Mrs Owens raising concerns about her unborn baby girl’s welfare, a midwife who examined her recommended she be discharged.

The mother-of-two refused to leave and was moved to a birthing pool to await labour – only for tests to subsequently reveal the child had no heart beat. She believes that her baby might have survived if more action had been taken sooner, reports Daily Mail.

Ella – was sadly stillborn, leaving Mrs Owens and partner Paul Humphreys, 31, shattered.

It has emerged this week that Mrs Owens had been awarded an undisclosed sum of damages from Warrington Hospital following the tragedy shortly before Christmas 2013.

In a statement she said: ‘I put my complete trust in the staff at Warrington Hospital to provide me and Ella with the care we needed but I feel like we were badly let down.

‘I have been fighting for Ella ever since and hope that by taking legal action and bringing this to the attention of the public, that the Trust will ensure it makes changes to maternity services.

‘Nothing will change what happened to our family but hopefully problems have been identified and rectified to prevent any other families going through the heartache we have in the last few years.’

While out Christmas shopping with her partner on December 21 she felt a very severe and sudden pain – nothing like the contractions she had with her first child.

She attended Warrington Hospital immediately but on arrival a midwife examined her and said she could be discharged so she should go home and rest.

She refused to go home and was taken to a room where she asked for pain relief but was told by the midwife that it was too early for gas and air who then went to get two co-codamol painkilling tablets.

Mrs Owens – who has two other daughters – said: ‘I knew that something wasn’t right because I didn’t feel like it had with my previous pregnancy.

‘We waited for the midwife and when she came and examined me she said I was only two centimetres dilated and that I should go home and take some paracetamol. She told me to get in the pool to relive the pain so I did.

‘After a while I was in excruciating pain so I pulled the emergency cord and demanded she get me out. She started drying me down with a towel but I told her to just make sure my baby was ok.

‘She checked but she couldn’t find a heartbeat. I was just in shock. They hadn’t listened to me at all and then this had happened. If I had been put on a monitor straight away it would have been different.’

‘I can’t believe that Ella was alive on arrival at the hospital and was alive in the birthing pool and then she was gone. There could have been a different outcome if I was checked at the right times.’

Ella was stillborn just after 11pm on 21 December 2013. Tests showed her mother had a placental abruption.

Share your comments below.

Image via shutterstock

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.
  • This is so sad. Monitoring the baby’s heart rate is crucial to see if all is well. Sadly sometimes a mum comes to hospital and says her baby has not moved for a while. Usually a glaSS OF ICED WATER WAKES BUBS UP BUT sometimes is means the unborn bub has died before birth. This is one of the things you encounter as a midwife at a hospital.

    Reply

  • Such a tragedy – thoughts are with you all.

    Reply

  • I can’t imagine how the Mum and also the Dad must have endured this tragedy.
    Had the hospital staff acted immediately the baby may have been saved. They made no attempt so the parents will never know the cause unless they were eventually told.

    Reply

  • Really?! How bad would you be feeling after, especially the parents, because the professionals didn’t listen

    Reply

  • medical staff do need to listen to the patients more, we k ow our bodies and then there is maternal instinct. I know so many mums to be that have been fobbed off. That poor family having to go through the pain :(

    Reply

  • My heart goes out to the mother,very sad.

    Reply

  • I agree that they should have listened to this mother. A mothers instincts is so strong, they know what’s best for them and their baby. Every pregnancy and labour is different, so listen carefully- doctors and nurses!

    Reply

Post a comment
Add a photo
Your MoM account


Lost your password?

Enter your email and a password below to post your comment and join MoM:

You May Like

Loading…

Looks like this may be blocked by your browser or content filtering.

↥ Back to top

Thanks For Your Star Rating!

Would you like to add a written rating or just a star rating?

Write A Rating Just A Star Rating
Join