Quality of investigations into baby deaths not good enough
- 10.06.2016
- HannahBottomley
- Clinical-negligence, Opinion, Clinical-negligence, Opinion
I have written about the difficulties families of patients who pass away during or following medical treatment face when trying to get answers and come to terms with their loss in the past. But where the death involved is that of a baby, the story always seems more poignant.
The recent investigation by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists into problems in labour has highlighted the major issue of investigation into the deaths. The report has concluded that the quality of such investigations is simply not good enough.
Dealing with the loss of a loved one is a difficult and emotional time and it can been seen that families are looking for someone to blame, however most families I deal with who have lost someone within the mist of medical treatment tell that all they really want is answers. They want to know what went wrong, not say they can necessarily blame someone, but so they can understand what happened and try and move on with their lives.
The article by the BBC focused on the tragic case of Michelle Hemmington who lost her son Louie at just 34 hours of age. Michelle explained how she has lived with her grief and battled to get answers to what had happened to Louie for four and a half years before the Trust involved finally admitted they were at fault.
Michelle reported to the BBC that on hearing that admission she felt as if her head had finally cleared and whilst she would live with the grief of losing Louie everyday she was finally able to move on with her life as she had to.
Without full and proper investigations into deaths by the NHS, the families are the ones who suffer. They are not provided with the answers and closure needed to move on and this, to my mind, allows the harm suffered to continue and be repeated over months and years.
I hope that the report by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists acts as a wake up call all those Trusts who have failed to fully investigate deaths and ensures that when mistakes are made, they are acknowledged and families are given answers as soon as possible and no-one has to go through the agony of waiting four and a half years for an admission as Michelle sadly did.