A hospital trust has admitted failings in the care of a 19-year-old mother who died from sepsis just 48 hours after giving birth to twins. Sophie Burgess, from Telford, Shropshire, delivered a boy and a girl eight weeks prematurely at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton on 13 March 2015, but never got to see her children after developing sepsis and HELLP syndrome, a serious pregnancy-related condition.
The family's legal action against the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Hospital Trust, which runs New Cross, has led to the admission. Solicitors Lanyon Bowdler said Sophie's death was avoidable. Despite being diagnosed with sepsis at 9.50pm, she was not transferred to an intensive care unit (ICU) for more than three hours, and did not arrive until 2.30am, by which time she was in severe shock. The trust has since expressed regret and said lessons had been learned to identify and manage sepsis as early as possible.
Kay Kelly, the clinical negligence lawyer representing the family, said three independent medical experts concluded Sophie would probably have survived if she had received proper care. She said: "After being instructed, we carried out an investigation which revealed extremely poor care on many levels which could and should have been avoided." Kelly highlighted that no consultant took responsibility for her care, and that the anaesthetist was allowed to go home during the incident. She said midwives made repeated attempts to call for senior clinicians, but no one recognised how ill Sophie was.
Sophie had initially been transferred from her local hospital to New Cross because of a shortage of neonatal beds. After giving birth, her condition deteriorated rapidly. Kelly said: "Her temperature rose, her pulse increased, and they became concerned about her... She never had a chance to see the twins. Her mother went to see the twins and brought a photo of them back to her daughter, which is really sad." Kelly also noted poor record-keeping and delays in giving fluids and antibiotics in the ICU.
The trust's medical director, Jonathan Odum, said: "The trust would once again like to offer our condolences and regret for the circumstances which led to the death of Sophie following the birth of the twins. The lessons identified from our investigation have been shared within the trust and continue to help us to identify and manage sepsis as early as possible."
