THE death of a mother who died after giving birth at Broomfield Hospital could have been “avoidable and contributed to by neglect”, a coroner said.
Laura-Jane Seaman, 36, died at the Mid and South Essex NHS Trust’s Broomfield Hospital, in Chelmsford, on December 23, 2022.
Two days earlier she had attended the hospital after experiencing contractions at home. She was nine months pregnant, and her labour had “progressed well”.
After giving birth, she was able to sit up in bed and planned to go home after her new-born baby was discharged.
But less than two hours later, Ms Seaman started to feel unwell and her condition began to deteriorate.
The inquest heard her deterioration in the hours after giving birth was not recognised and not escalated for a more senior review.
She asked clinicians “Am I bleeding?” and begged “Please don’t let me die.”
Medical staff caring for her put her symptoms down to “dehydration” and when she lost consciousness, she was “simply given a biscuit”.
The loss of consciousness was labelled by the clinical team as a faint but the inquest confirmed she had experienced a "maternal collapse" which warranted obstetric review.
Ms Seaman went into cardiac arrest at about 6.30am on December 21, as a result of major internal bleeding.
A 16-day inquest into her death ended on Monday, August 12.
Area coroner Sonia Hayes ruled Ms Seaman died because of basic failings to recognise a loss of consciousness as a maternal collapse.
The coroner said there had been an inability to obtain basic vital signs which were incorrectly attributed to faulty equipment rather than an “obvious deterioration in her condition”.
There had been multiple failures by several members of staff at Broomfield Hospital and Ms Seaman’s care should have been escalated to more senior staff.
The inquest heard from the coroner that a multi-disciplinary team review would have “resulted in care and treatment which would have saved Laura-Jane’s life”.
Diane Sarkar, the chief nursing officer for Mid and South Essex NHS, has offered the trust’s “sincerest sympathies and condolences”.
She said: “Her tragic death has affected us all at the trust greatly.
“Following investigations into the circumstances that led to her death, our focus has been on improving training in recognising the early signs of deterioration and escalation routes in our maternity services to prevent this from happening again.
“We thank the coroner for her detailed review and have listened carefully to her comments and the evidence heard at inquest, all of which will inform our efforts to continue to improve maternity services at the trust.”
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