A newborn baby died at just three days old after hospital staff failed to wake his mother for vital checks on a 'chaotic' maternity ward, an internal NHS investigation has found.
Sonny Taylor suffered catastrophic brain damage due to oxygen deprivation and sepsis after being left 'distressed for a significant amount of time'. He was delivered via emergency caesarean section at Ysbyty Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor, North Wales, after a low heart rate was detected.
Staff left his mother Eve, 29, sleeping instead of waking her for observations and to listen to Sonny's heart at 10pm on September 29, 2022. She woke at around 1.30am terrified after noticing reduced movement. Despite a registrar confirming a low heart rate, medics transferred her to a labour ward instead of rushing her to emergency surgery, causing a 15-minute delay in delivery.
Sonny was born at 2.03am on September 30 and rushed to neonatal intensive care, but his condition deteriorated. With doctors' support, Eve and partner Thomas made the devastating decision to move him to palliative care. He died on October 3, 2022.
Investigators concluded that had Eve been woken at 10pm and monitored properly, doctors would likely have delivered Sonny earlier, and the tragic outcome may have been avoided. The couple have since won an undisclosed legal settlement against Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board.
Eve said: 'When I awoke Sonny wasn't moving as much and I immediately knew something wasn't right. What followed was frantic, chaotic and terrifying.' Thomas added: 'The day Sonny was born should have been one of the happiest of our lives, but it turned to absolute despair.'
