Heartbreaking moment couple cradle their stillborn daughter who died after a midwife told her mum to go home and take paracetamol despite her excruciating pain
Mum Angela Owens was rushed to hospital in excruciating pain days after her due date
THESE emotional photographs show a heartbroken couple cradling their stillborn daughter after hospital staff made a series of tragic errors that led to the tot's death.
Pregnant Angela Owens was rushed to A&E days after her due date in excruciating pain.
But a midwife at Warrington Hospital recommended she be sent home with just a prescription for paracetamol despite fears for the unborn baby's well-being.
Mum-of-two Angela refused to leave and was moved to a birthing pool to await labour.
But docs testing the baby, who Angela and partner Paul Humphreys, 31, found she had no heartbeat.
Mrs Owens, a council benefits supervisor from Warrington, Cheshire, was awarded damages by the hospital trust for fatal errors that led to the tragedy just before Christmas 2013.
She said: "I put my complete trust in the staff at Warrington Hospital to provide me and Ella with the care we needed but I feel like we were badly let down.
"I have been fighting for Ella ever since and hope that by taking legal action and bringing this to the attention of the public, that the Trust will ensure it makes changes to maternity services.
"Nothing will change what happened to our family but hopefully problems have been identified and rectified to prevent any other families going through the heartache we have in the last few years."
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Angela had been out Christmas shopping on December 21, just a day before she was to be induced into labour after going six days over her due date.
She began feeling excruciating pains and was rushed to hospital.
A midwife examined her and said she wasn't dilated enough to be admitted, and was told to go home and take paracetamol.
After refusing to leave Angela was taken to a birthing pool to help relieve the pain but it only got worse.
"After a while I was in excruciating pain so I pulled the emergency cord and demanded she get me out.
"She started drying me down with a towel but I told her to just make sure my baby was ok.
''She checked but she couldn't find a heartbeat. I was just in shock.
"They hadn't listened to me at all and then this had happened. If I had been put on a monitor straight away it would have been different.
"I can't believe that Ella was alive on arrival at the hospital and was alive in the birthing pool and then she was gone. There could have been a different outcome if I was checked at the right times."
They hadn't listened to me at all and then this had happened. If I had been put on a monitor straight away it would have been different
Angela Owens
Ella was stillborn just after 11pm on 21 December 2013, with tests showing her mother had a placental abruption.
The midwife has since been retrained and and lawyers secured compensation from Warrington and Halton Hospitals NHS Foundation.
The trust said: "There has been both an internal and independent investigation into this matter and the findings have been shared with the family at every opportunity.
"We want to again express our sincere condolences to them."
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