Parents of Baby Who Died at Five Days Old to Sue NHS Trust
A couple whose baby daughter died when she was five days old are starting a civil claim against the NHS trust that runs the hospital where she was born.
Olivia Trupiano was delivered by emergency caesarean section at 34 weeks on 14 September 2024 at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. She was born with severe hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy, which happens when the brain does not receive enough oxygen or blood flow around the time of birth. Olivia died on 19 September at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton, where she and her mother had both been transferred.
The inquest
Her mother, Kimberley Newark, had gone to hospital in what she called "excruciating pain" and was told it was trapped wind. She was in fact bleeding internally. An inquest this month heard that Olivia's condition was caused by a rare two-stage spontaneous rupture of Newark's splenic artery at 34 weeks. Newark was placed in a coma, and the coroner found that her condition did not present typically.
The inquest concluded that no aspect of Olivia's care by University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust could be considered likely to have caused her death. Newark and Olivia's father, Yann Trupiano, say they are still determined to get answers.
"It's sort of, I feel, the only thing that I can really do for Olivia as her mother," Newark said. She described waking from the coma knowing her baby would not survive, and said the only true memories she will keep are of feeling Olivia move at night.
The civil claim
The family is represented by the law firm Slater and Gordon. Ayesha Hussain, from the firm, said it is examining any potential errors or missed "opportunities" that would have changed the outcome for Olivia.
Newark said cases like theirs are often treated as statistics. "We are real families, we are real people," she said.
A trust spokesperson repeated its condolences to the family and said it noted the coroner's narrative conclusion. The trust said it was sorry the inquest did not give the family all the answers they had hoped for, and that it remains willing to meet them again.
In April, the senior midwife Donna Ockenden was appointed to lead an independent review of maternity services at the trust. It also runs departments at Worthing Hospital and St Richard's Hospital in Chichester.
Source: BBC News