Morning:
9°c
With a single dessert and just two glasses of wine our bill was kept in check - but the effort of doing so was not much fun
EXCLUSIVE: David Cameron reveals his faith in God, his fear of failure and his dread that another of his children could die
More...
Mother forced to give birth alone in toilet of 'flagship' NHS hospital
Last updated at 16:37pm on 18.08.07A young mother had to deliver her own baby in the lavatory of a flagship hospital because there were no trained midwives available.
Surveyor Catherine Brown had made the agonising decision to undergo a chemically-induced abortion after being told her 18-week pregnancy was risking her life.
But when the time came to give birth she was on an ear, nose and throat ward and had only her mother to help her through the ordeal. Her premature son Edward died in her arms minutes later.
The traumatised mother-of-one said: "I just howled and howled. I remember sitting there looking at him and thinking, 'What do I do next?'. I just sat there on the toilet looking at my dead baby.
"It was dreadful - a terrible nightmare. Then I started crying my eyes out and repeating, 'I'm sorry baby, I'm so sorry'. I still can't believe the hospital had no trained staff who could help me."
Scroll down for more...
Catherine Brown only had her mother Sheila to help her give birth
To compound Miss Brown's agony, the body of her child was almost discarded with hospital waste.
Her MP has called for an independent review of what he called "one of the most harrowing medical cases I have ever had to deal with".
The catalogue of errors unfolded at the £238million Queen's Hospital in Romford, Essex, which opened last December.
Eleven weeks into her pregnancy, Miss Brown, 30, started suffering abdominal pains. She was told she was suffering from a urinary infection which would not affect her pregnancy. But on the evening of February 21 she started bleeding and was rushed into hospital.
Her condition was stabilised with intravenous antibiotics and in the early hours of the following morning she was moved to a mixed-sex ear, nose and throat ward where a bed was available. She was placed in a doorless annexe of the ward and told to expect a scan in the morning.
By 5pm that evening she had still not had a scan. The procedure was only arranged at 7pm after her mother, Sheila Keeling, 51, threatened to make an official complaint.
Doctors discovered there was no amniotic fluid around the baby, meaning his chances of survival were minimal.
Miss Brown was told her own life was threatened by her condition and, following a consultant's advice, she took the devastating decision to undergo a chemically-induced abortion late that evening, after which she was moved into a private room.
At 4am on the following morning she went into labour but complained she had to wait an hour for gas and air to help with the pain.
With no professional help available, she decided to go to her en suite bathroom and stand over the toilet, which had a disabled bar for support, because she had given birth to her son, 18-month-old Matthew, in an upright position.
Her mother spoke of her fears that she was going to lose her daughter as well as her grandson, because she was bleeding so heavily.
"I was running around frantically trying to find gas and air for her and pleaded with nurses, who seemed very matter of fact, to assist," she said.
"The staff I did find told me they did not have the training to help. Catherine was left to deliver the baby alone with just me for help before cleaning herself up and going back to bed. It was horrific."
But their trauma was still not over. Miss Brown said staff almost took Edward's remains away for disposal despite her informing the hospital she wanted to hold a funeral.
"They didn't even record the details of Edward's birth. But he did exist. And more than that, he was a very special little boy.
"Hopefully he has made sure that other families won't have to go through what we did. We'll never forget him."
Tests later revealed Miss Brown had septicaemia, possibly caused by the placenta failing to implant properly.
Miss Brown, who lives in Hornchurch and has split with Edward and Matthew's father, said the mental and physical toll of her experience meant she had to stop work as a utility surveyor and is only now close to recovering.
Fighting back tears, her mother said: "It was really hard watching my daughter go through that. No one was there to reassure us and make us think they knew what they were doing."
Miss Brown's MP, Conservative-James Brokenshire, said: 'The catalogue of errors and blunders is quite disturbing. There appear to have been systemic issues and potentially issues about individual members of staff.
"While changes have been made by the hospital it is such a horrific story I want everything to be closely scrutinised.
"This has to be one of the most harrowing medical cases I have ever had to deal with.
"Catherine almost died and she later discovered the baby had nearly been disposed of with medical-waste."
Queen's Hospital was opened at the end of last year, taking over maternity services from Oldchurch Hospital in Romford.
Women more than 20 weeks pregnant who experience complications are seen by A&E and sent to the maternity unit if necessary.
Those under 20 weeks also go through A&E but are referred to gynaecology if problems continue.
However, there was not a dedicated gynaecology unit when Miss Brown was admitted, meaning patients were sent to a ward where a bed was available. The Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospital NHS Trust offered its "sincere condolences" to Miss Brown.
A spokesman said: "We have now established a separate gynaecological A&E service, staffed by gynaecological, medical and nursing staff with access to the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit.
"From the end of this month, there will be a dedicated gynaecological ward, with the Early Pregnancy Assessment Unit situated within it. This will ensure dedicated and appropriate care."
Reader views (24)
But Hannan's a traitor for criticising it, right?
- Tim, Swindon
My daughter died because of neglect of basic care by postnatal at Queens hospital in Romford. She was born by c-section and something was wrong. Her breathing was wierd. I mentioned this to several nurses and doctors who said it's normal. I said that this is not my first baby but they where not listening. She was checked on departure but they said she was fine. Heath visitor said she was fine on arrival to my house. My daughter later died in my arms only 14 days old. She may have heard a condition that is hard to detect but if they listened to me and did a through investigation she may still be here.
- Aisha, ilford essex
I have just returned from queens hospital, my niece gave birth to a beautiful baby, she was told through her pregnancy that the baby had heart problems, and would have to go into intensive care when she was born, she went into labour, she knew something was wrong , and asked for an emergency ceccerian, they refused , said they would do it in 24 hours, she was loosing fluid, her waters broke, she begged again for a ceccerian, she was told no maybe in another 24 hours,
she dialated, from 1cm to 10cm in miniutes, and started to give birth,
the baby was born but was not crying, they done c.p. r on her for 20mins, they told her the baby was ok, my niece was telling them to read her notes because the baby needs to go into intensive care because of her heart ,they said everything was ok, not knowing the patient, and not bothered to look at her notes,
they dressed the baby and handed her to my niece to feed her, they left them alone for 1 and a half hours,
the baby went blue and limp she is now in intensive care on a life support machine being told she has 50/50 chance of survival if she does survive she will be severly brain damaged her brain is swelling and she is fitting
obviousley my niece is distressed she only has me and my mother we went up there to talk to doctors/nurses, and was very rudly told that it is not in their policy to discuss the babys conditon with us because we are not the parents, all we know is what our niece has told us and she is to traumatised
- Kerry, essex
I can't believe what I've just read. I used to feel proud to be British but not anymore. This country just gets worse.
- J.C, Uttoxeter, Staffs.
The poor woman, this is so very sad, but worst of all is the fact that it's what we have come to expect of our NHS now.
- Paula Court, Ellesmere Port, UK
I sympathise with Catherine as a month today I lost my own baby. I had been reassured all was okay and had even seen a heartbeat on a scan that very day. Once I got home I started to miscarry and got to see my baby which I will never forget. Fortunately for me the staff at the Sussex County in Brighton were fantastic and were extremely sensitive knowing what I had just been through. I was able to hold a funeral which was very beautiful so I do feel your pain.
- Anon, Brighton, UK
All very well blaming the management, of course it's an issue, but what about the nurses who were there? How could they, as human beings, leave her alone to go through that, even if they didn't know what to do?
- Lucy Samuels, Birmingham, UK
Alone with mum, terrified, no help, in a toilet, in pain, and then her wanted baby in front off her dying, then dead! Can anyone imagine that this was worse than HELL for her? My heart bleeds when I think of this avoidable scenario.
- Charles Linskaill, Edinburgh UK
How disgusting that this poor woman was treated like this, she not only lost her baby but could have died herself. I bet no one gets fired for it. I think the government are running down all our major services on purpose, the hospitals, police, army, navy, airforce, railways so we are glad to go into Europe completely, so we think its a good thing to be ruled by all those foreigners. It’s all so shameful. I hope these MPs that are only in it for the money and not the people are ashamed of themselves and their treason.
- John, England
My wife has just had an operation and whilst the hospital is lovely and her surgeon was wonderful (I since heard that she didn't have her contract renewed because she spent too much money) the attitude of some of the other nursing staff was very poor. Overall they seemed very short staffed.
- Michael, Brentwood UK
What you need to remember is that these empty jobs are created by New Labour in order to get the hundreds of thousands of newly created job holders to vote for them at the next election. The manager will never be sacked because he is now a Labour voter and so are all his sub managers and other waste of space employees. Try finding a nurse or doctor in one of these places. Remember patients are just a commodity to swell the ranks of the party grateful in their over paid jobs.
- Stephend, London, England
I bet there was no appropriate government target to be met, so the needs of the mother were ignored. When can we get a needs based service?
- Roger Parkes, Tunbridge Wells
How is it possible that the managing director of this "hospital" wasn't sacked - and forbidden to work ever again for the NHS?
- George Ross, UK
I think the issue is you can build a building, but if you have the same lousy people running it, who cares how flash the building is?
- Anon, Hornchurch, Essex
Do you want worse than this? This seem worse than Third World and is rather inhumane. What's the point investing millions when there is not enough expertise to run the hospital? Once I had been wrongly diagnosed by a top doctor and this traumatised me for some time. On another occasion I was left lying in pain for 2 hrs on another hospital trolley before a bed was found. Its full time the government wake up and smelt the coffee.
- Marvet, London, England
Where is all our money, taxes being spent?
- Douglas, Swansea, S Wales
What is this country coming to? Where is our pride?
- Sur, London
An Absolute tragedy and total disgrace to put any woman through in a so-called civilized society!
Our prayers are with you both Edward and Catherine.
- Charles Linskaill, Edinburgh UK
The NHS is finished. Utterly finished. Its quite clear whats wrong but there is no political will to take on the vested interests in the Medical Profession who don't want to change. Sadly neither political party has a clue what to do nor the guts to do it. So glad I no longer need to rely on the NHS.
- James, London, UK
Truly pathetic. A Third World health care system. No matter how much money the government throws into the system, nothing seems to help.
- Phil Jones, London UK
This is just awful and yet another horrific story of "treatment" at Queens. I myself suffered from a finger injury which was not recognised at Queen's A&E and I am only now just getting the correct treatment for it at another hospital. Also the fact that the stairways in the hospital are not for public access are a joke - the place needs an urgent review and fast, before others suffer from such terrible scenarios as Catherine above.
- Natty, Romford
What a dreadful state of affairs this story portrays. How on earth have we come to this? I cannot begin to comprehend the trauma M/s Brown has gone through and expect rather more than the usual glib phrases from Ministers by way of explanation. We really are Third World in health care on occasions.
- James Elliott, Eastbourne UK
Disgusting and inexcusable!
- Brian, London
That poor woman! Where were all the DOCTORS? Playing golf?
She should not have given birth at 18 weeks - no baby would have survived that. I would have thought that medical staff should have attempted to stop the contractions.
- Diana, Edinburgh
