Inquest finds hospital failures caused young woman's death
- 17.01.2017
- EmmaArnold
- Clinical-negligence, Clinical-negligence
A woman died after giving birth due to hospital 'failures, inadequate diagnosis and treatment' following an Inquest.
Frances Cappauccini, suffered heavy bleeding after an emergency cesarean with her second son at Tunbridge Wells Hospital in 2012.
The Inquest found that the procedure was not carried out with enough care resulting in Frances losing 2.3 litres of blood.
Doctors should have checked to ensure nothing was missed after the operation but a piece of placenta was left in the womb.
The Inquest also found that doctors had to wait up to 10 minutes for vital drugs to treat her when simulator drugs should already be in every theatre.
Hannah Bottomley, clinical negligence solicitor at PotterReesDolan, said:
I have previously written about this tragic case which is back in the media spotlight following the Inquest Verdict. The Coroner was clearly concerned enough by Frances’ care to conclude that her death was a result of a serious error and mistakes.
Such findings in the Coroner’s court are in fact quite rare as the Inquest process is designed to be fact finding, not to lay the blame of a death on any one party. In light of this position I can only assume that the evidence of poor care was so substantial the Coroner felt he had no choice but to reach this conclusion.
Frances' family said how the Inquest means truth has finally been acknowledged but will always blame the medical mistakes for her death.
PotterReesDolan have dealt with a number of clinical negligence claims including a mother-of-three who died after negligent care after the birth of her baby.
Hannah Bottomley is a clinical negligence solicitor with PotterReesDolan. Should you have any queries about clinical negligence issues or indeed any other aspect of this article and wish to speak to Hannah or any other member of the team please contact us on 0161 237 5888 or email Hannah.