A grieving woman has urged midwives not to leave newborn babies in bed with their mothers after she fell asleep as a result of an anaesthetic and accidentally suffocated her daughter.
Catherine Wrigley, 36, has been awarded an estimated £20,000 in damages after staff at St Peter’s Hospital, in Chertsey, Surrey, were found to have been negligent in leaving her alone with her daughter, Nancy, after delivery by Caesarean section.
Mrs Wrigley said that midwives at a high-dependancy unit at the hospital should have been more vigilant as she was drowsy and unable to move from the chest downwards after the operation. Babies should be put in a cot if midwives are not able to supervise new mothers and check them regularly in person, she said. She is also urging all mothers to have an emergency-call bell within easy reach.
“If Nancy had not been left in bed with me she would still be alive today,” Mrs Wrigley said. “I was on a high-dependency ward, where I was supposed to be carefully monitored, and yet the midwife left me alone for nearly an hour.
“It is such a terrible waste of a life. There was absolutely no reason for her death.
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“It would almost have been easier to accept if she had been born with a defect. Instead, I have to live with the fact that I spent more time with my baby daughter when she was dead than when she was alive.”
Mrs Wrigley, who has been married for eight years to her husband Andrew, a 41-year-old architect, gave birth in September 2005. She had to book an elective Caesarean because her two other daughters Emily, 7, and Molly, 4, had been born by emergency Caesarean.
Nancy was born at 10.45am and weighed 7lb 5oz. Half an hour later, mother and baby were wheeled through to the high-dependency unit. Mrs Wrigley was then propped up on pillows to breastfeed, but while her husband went out to telephone friends and family, she was left unattended. It was only when Mr Wrigley returned to the ward, that he noticed something was wrong.
“The ward was very quiet. Nobody came to see them, but after about half an hour instinct told me I should check on them. I got up and put my head next to Nancy to listen to her breathing but I couldn’t hear anything.
“I then picked her finger up and it was limp. I didn’t hesitate. I ran to the desk and they picked her up like a football and ran to the crash unit. But it was too late.”
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Nancy was cremated at Woking Crematorium on September 23. An inquest later recorded a verdict of neglect of care. The couple have since returned to their native Cheshire.