A newborn baby has died from sepsis after midwifery staff at a Welsh hospital failed to wake his mother for routine observations, an internal NHS investigation has found. Sonny Taylor suffered catastrophic brain damage from oxygen deprivation and died aged three days following a delayed emergency caesarean section at Ysbyty Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor.
The mother, 29-year-old Eve, was admitted on 29 September 2022 after her waters broke at 36 weeks. Her vital signs and Sonny's heartbeat were normal at 6pm, but at 10pm staff did not rouse her for checks or monitor the baby's heartbeat. She woke at 1.30am the next day worried about reduced movement, and a registrar found an irregular heartbeat. Instead of being taken straight to theatre, she was mistakenly transferred to the labour ward, causing a 15-minute delay before Sonny's birth at 2.03am.
Sonny was transferred from neonatal intensive care to palliative care and died on 3 October 2022 from brain injury and sepsis. The parents, Eve and Thomas, have secured an undisclosed settlement from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board. Eve said: 'What followed was frantic, chaotic, and terrifying. We'll forever cherish those precious moments with Sonny, but it broke us having to say goodbye.'
The internal investigation concluded that a midwife should have woken Eve and conducted checks at 10pm, and that she should have been taken directly to theatre. The health board expressed regret for the 'failings identified' in the report. Thomas added: 'We'll always believe he was badly let down when he needed help the most.'
