The mother of a baby, Poppy Russell, who died within hours of her birth at Telford's Princess Royal Hospital in April 2021, has accused the hospital of lying about her labor.
A coroner ruled that Poppy's death was preventable and cited a lack of effective monitoring of her fetal heart rate as a contributing factor. The mother, Katie Russell, claims that the hospital made it seem like she had declined certain examinations and monitoring when, in fact, she was anxious and would not have refused any necessary procedures.
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) admitted failings in Poppy's care and apologized for the incident. Poppy's death is part of a larger inquiry into maternity practices at the trust, which has revealed catastrophic failures that may have led to the deaths of over 200 babies and nine mothers. The trust claims to have made improvements in maternity care since then.