The family of a woman, who died during the birth of her son due to a sequence of medical errors, is to receive 410,000 pounds in Caesarean error compensation following a hearing at the High Court in London.
Joanne Lockham (45) of Wendover, Buckinghamshire, was preparing to give birth to her first child at Stoke Mandeville Hospital in October 2007 when the baby´s heart rate dropped and an emergency Caesarean operation was scheduled to enable the child´s swift delivery.
However, while Joanne was under general anaesthetic, her oxygen supply was not put into her windpipe and she suffered a cardiac arrest. Joanne was deprived of oxygen for half an hour and her heart stopped shortly after her baby was born. She died two days later, having never seen her son, Finn. Finn is now care for by her widower, Peter.
At London’s High Court, Mr Justice Burnett heard that serious failings by the hospital had been identified during the inquest into Joanne´s death. In addition to depriving Joanne of oxygen, medical staff had administered a second dose of drugs to paralyse her limbs when she started to stir and the repeated attempts to insert an oxygen tube when the error was noticed wasted valuable time which contributed towards her death.
Mr Justice Burnett also heard that Buckinghamshire Hospitals NHS Trust acknowledged their errors and liability for personal injury compensation, and a settlement of Caesarean error compensation for 410,000 pounds had been agreed. Mr Justice Burnett approved the settlement, stating that the claim had arisen in “especially tragic circumstances”.