London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Saturday, Aug 02, 2025

Hospital admits liability for baby’s death after ignoring mother’s concerns

Hospital admits liability for baby’s death after ignoring mother’s concerns

Charlotte Jackson’s complaints of fluid loss dismissed as bedwetting by Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust
A hospital has admitted liability for the death of a baby who was delivered stillborn three days after his mother’s complaints of fluid loss and severe pain were dismissed as wetting the bed.

Jacob Jackson could have been born healthy, Shrewsbury and Telford hospital trust (Sath) has accepted, if it had arranged an earlier delivery in October 2018 as his mother, Charlotte, had suggested.

The incident happened 18 months after an external review had been ordered into serious maternity failings at the trust, which are now known to be the biggest maternity scandal in the history of the NHS.

On Monday, Charlotte Jackson, 29, from Bridgnorth in Shropshire, advised expectant mothers to avoid the Telford’s Princess Royal hospital until it can show it is prepared to listen to maternity patients.

Jackson said: “It makes me feel sick to my stomach that they knew there were problems – this sort of thing had been going on for decades. We keep getting fed the same lines that ‘lessons have been learned’. If lessons had been learned parents and babies wouldn’t be going through this.”

She added: “I have got a few friends who are expecting and I have just begged them not to have a baby at Telford.”

Asked how the hospital could improve, she said: “They just need to listen to the mums. Every time I went in with concerns I felt they were just reading out from a book about what should happen. Not every woman is the same, we are all individuals.”

Despite being identified as a high-risk mother because she had type 1 diabetes, Jackson’s concerns about fluid loss, reduced movement in the womb and acute stomach pain were not taken seriously when she attended a pre-surgery assessment on 31 October 2018. Instead, she was sent home and told to wait for a planned caesarean a week later.

She said: “I am a type 1 diabetic, so any time I said I have got pains or am leaking fluids it should have been looked at. It was absolutely shocking that I was not told to wait for a doctor. All I wanted them to do is just listen. Mums do know our bodies, and we do know our babies.”

She added: “Even after I checked and reminded them I was high risk, I was told you have probably just wet the bed.”

Jacob was delivered stillborn three days later in an emergency caesarean that left Edwards needing a catheter for six weeks. “No mother or baby should ever have to go through something like this,” she said.

She added: “Throughout the pregnancy I had said we were more comfortable going at 37 weeks. They wanted to make it 38 weeks despite my concerns about the size of Jacob. I think it was just statistics that they need to get as many babies as possible to a certain gestation, and they wouldn’t listen to anything that deviated from that.”

After the trauma of Jacob’s death, she avoided the hospital when she found she was expecting again last year. Her youngest son Ronnie-Jack was born last year at New Cross hospital, Wolverhampton.

She said: “We would never [have] considered having a baby at Telford again. One of the midwives said she wouldn’t let me near it.”

In a letter to Jackson, Louise Barnett, the Sath chief executive, said: “The trust recognises how serious the shortfall in your care was and the suffering this has caused you. I understand that Jacob could have been born healthy if we had arranged delivery earlier. I am very sorry that we let you and Jacob down.”

Jackson’s solicitors, Irwin Mitchell, secured an undisclosed settlement after alleging that the trust should have arranged a senior consultant to review her care on 31 October. It said the hospital should then have arranged a caesarean section either on the day or the following day at the latest.

Last year an interim review, by a team led by midwifery expert Donna Ockenden, uncovered a series of failures in maternity services at Sath in more than 1,800 cases from 2000-2019.

These included a lethal reluctance to conduct caesarean sections, a tendency to blame mothers for problems, a failure to handle complex cases, a lack of consultant oversight and a “deeply worrying lack of kindness and compassion”. Sath has promised to implement all the recommendations in full.

Eleanor Giblin, a specialist medical negligence lawyer who led the claim, said: “What is so worrying about Charlotte’s case is that there were long-running concerns about this trust dating back decades and the review was already in place, and yet we see the same themes in failing in care echoed in late 2018.”

She added: “Themes that we saw in Charlotte’s case echo a lot of the concerns outlined in the Ockenden review, particularly the failure to involve senior clinicians surrounding care. There was also a reluctance to deviate from the planned caesarean.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Trump Threatens Canada with Tariffs Over Palestinian State Recognition
Trump Deploys Nuclear Submarines After Threats from Former Russian President Medvedev
Trump Sues Murdoch in “Heavyweight Bout”: Lawsuit Over Alleged Epstein Letter Sets Stage for Courtroom Showdown
Germany Enters Fiscal Crisis as Cabinet Approves €174 Billion in New Debt
Trump Administration Finalizes Broad Tariff Increases on Global Trade Partners
J.K. Rowling Limits Public Engagements Citing Safety Fears
JD.com Launches €2.2 Billion Bid for German Electronics Retailer Ceconomy
Azerbaijan Proceeds with Plan to Legalise Casinos on Artificial Islands
Former Judge Charged After Drunk Driving Crash Kills Comedian in Brazil
Jeff Bezos hasn’t paid a dollar in taxes for decades. He makes billions and pays $0 in taxes, LEGALLY
China Increases Use of Exit Bans Amid Rising U.S. Tensions
IMF Upgrades Global Growth Forecast as Weaker Dollar Supports Outlook
Procter & Gamble to Raise U.S. Prices to Offset One‑Billion‑Dollar Tariff Cost
House Republicans Move to Defund OECD Over Global Tax Dispute
Botswana Seeks Controlling Stake in De Beers as Anglo American Prepares Exit
Trump Administration Proposes Repeal of Obama‑Era Endangerment Finding, Dismantling Regulatory Basis for CO₂ Emissions Limits
France Opens Criminal Investigation into X Over Algorithm Manipulation Allegations
A family has been arrested in the UK for displaying the British flag
Mel Gibson refuses to work with Robert De Niro, saying, "Keep that woke clown away from me."
Trump Steamrolls EU in Landmark Trade Win: US–EU Trade Deal Imposes 15% Tariff on European Imports
ChatGPT CEO Sam Altman says people share personal info with ChatGPT but don’t know chats can be used as court evidence in legal cases.
The British propaganda channel BBC News lies again.
Deputy attorney general's second day of meeting with Ghislaine Maxwell has concluded
Controversial March in Switzerland Features Men Dressed in Nazi Uniforms
Politics is a good business: Barack Obama’s Reported Net Worth Growth, 1990–2025
Thai Civilian Death Toll Rises to 12 in Cambodian Cross-Border Attacks
TSUNAMI: Trump Just Crossed the Rubicon—And There’s No Turning Back
Over 120 Criminal Cases Dismissed in Boston Amid Public Defender Shortage
UN's Top Court Declares Environmental Protection a Legal Obligation Under International Law
"Crazy Thing": OpenAI's Sam Altman Warns Of AI Voice Fraud Crisis In Banking
The Podcaster Who Accidentally Revealed He Earns Over $10 Million a Year
Trump Announces $550 Billion Japanese Investment and New Trade Agreements with Indonesia and the Philippines
US Treasury Secretary Calls for Institutional Review of Federal Reserve Amid AI‑Driven Growth Expectations
UK Government Considers Dropping Demand for Apple Encryption Backdoor
Severe Flooding in South Korea Claims Lives Amid Ongoing Rescue Operations
Japanese Man Discovers Family Connection Through DNA Testing After Decades of Separation
Russia Signals Openness to Ukraine Peace Talks Amid Escalating Drone Warfare
Switzerland Implements Ban on Mammography Screening
Japanese Prime Minister Vows to Stay After Coalition Loses Upper House Majority
Pogacar Extends Dominance with Stage Fifteen Triumph at Tour de France
CEO Resigns Amid Controversy Over Relationship with HR Executive
Man Dies After Being Pulled Into MRI Machine Due to Metal Chain in New York Clinic
NVIDIA Achieves $4 Trillion Valuation Amid AI Demand
US Revokes Visas of Brazilian Corrupted Judges Amid Fake Bolsonaro Investigation
U.S. Congress Approves Rescissions Act Cutting Federal Funding for NPR and PBS
North Korea Restricts Foreign Tourist Access to New Seaside Resort
Brazil's Supreme Court Imposes Radical Restrictions on Former President Bolsonaro
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
×