In a recent BBC article, a coroner ruled that the death of Laura-Jane Seaman on 23 December 2022, was “avoidable and contributed to by neglect” from gross failures by healthcare professionals.
Ms Seaman was known to the Essex Trust to be at risk of heavy bleeding following birth before she was admitted to hospital. Even so, following the birth of her baby, her condition was not properly monitored and Ms Seaman bled intra-abdominally for hours.
During the three-week inquest into her death, it was confirmed that Ms. Seaman repeatedly expressed symptoms of dizziness, numbness, and bleeding, but staff misdiagnosed her condition and failed to follow the major haemorrhage protocol. Ms Sleaman suffered two cardiac arrests and eventually died, two days after giving birth.
Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust acknowledged the failures and stated they are improving training to prevent similar incidents. The trust also extended sympathies to Ms. Seaman’s family.
Endurance Arthur, Head of Medical Negligence at Tozers, commented “This was a difficult read. The failings in Ms Seaman’s care included a lack of the most basic care. You can only imagine what went through that poor mother’s mind as her pleas were ignored and her condition was wrongly attributed to dehydration.”
Maternity services at Broomfield Hospital was rated as “requires improvement” in a recent Care Quality Commission inspection, with efforts now focused on improving early detection and escalation procedures. A hospital spokesperson said that are focusing on improving training to recognise “early signs of deterioration” and “prevent this from happening again”.
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