Ethan Johnson inquest: Baby died after 'chaotic' birth

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-34259183

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A baby died a day after being born in chaotic scenes at Milton Keynes Hospital, an inquest has heard.

Ethan Johnson died from a combination of symptoms after his faeces was found in his mother's waters before his birth. His mother said: "I don't feel anybody took charge. It was chaos."

The inquest heard there were problems contacting the midwife and senior staff before the caesarean section delivery.

The coroner said he would write a report for the hospital to respond to.

He said there was a "lost opportunity" to deliver Ethan earlier and treat him.

Ethan was born on Sunday 4 January - four days after his mother Claire Johnson, of Bletchley, first reported having contractions.

'Need to be honest'

The inquest heard the midwife assigned to her was not informed that Ms Johnson had arrived on the Sunday and there were delays in reviewing Ethan's heart rate.

Staff called for a consultant at 12:15 GMT when a scan indicated abnormalities, but there were issues contacting senior staff and there was another emergency in the delivery unit that day.

Ethan was delivered at about 13:30 GMT.

The cause of his death the following day was recorded as perinatal asphyxia and meconium aspiration.

Thomas Osborne, coroner, said: "The delay... resulted in a lost opportunity to deliver him earlier and render further medical treatment."

In his narrative verdict he said he was concerned about "a lack of leadership" and would submit a report to the hospital, which it had 56 days to respond to.

Ms Johnson told the inquest: "If there were mistakes made, then they need to be honest about that. I don't want more babies to die."

'Number of changes'

A hospital investigation concluded that Ethan's death was unavoidable, the inquest heard.

Speaking after the inquest, clinical director Ed Neale said he was "confident" changes had been made at the hospital which would satisfy the coroner.

"We have made a number of changes to the leadership processes, we have a new matron and head of midwifery since Ethan's death," he said.