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Laura Sylvester
It is unsurprising that there is a call for the Crown Prosecution Service to bring corporate manslaughter charges against Shrewsbury & Telford Hospital NHS Trust following an apparently damning report which looks at the culture of the Trust which has led to maternal deaths, stillbirths, babies left brain damaged because the staff failed to realise labour was going wrong or that Group B streptococcus or meningitis was present which required treatment by antibiotics.
Although the call for the involvement of the criminal law is understandable (and in this case may be appropriate) it is a reaction to an avoidable situation (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-shropshire-50472199). The risk of using the criminal law is that parties become deeply entrenched and the key to finding solutions to prevent another scandal might be lost. This must not be allowed to happen.
One parent observed that the Trust “wilfully refused to learn from earlier cases dating back decades”. She also said “no other baby will suffer the same harm while I have breath in my body”. Elsewhere the environment of the Trust was described as “toxic”.
This report really does make desperate reading and extreme responses to such a catastrophe are inevitable and therefore there may well be a groundswell of public opinion that corporate manslaughter charges should be brought but, beyond that, it seems to me that there are three elements that need to be looked at to avoid a future recurrence:
My colleague has previously written about this investigation and report and I have argued elsewhere about the importance of the patient narrative and the need to use the patient narrative for learning. When I read “that is why I fought every body and every institution in Kate’s name because no other baby will suffer the same harm while I have breath in my body” it is heart breaking that, once again, a patient narrative has been heard too late to save this parent’s child and it has fallen to distressed and bereaved parents to insist on accountability when it should be an organisational responsibility to learn from mistakes.
If you would like to discuss a possible clinical negligence claim please contact one of our Medical Negligence & Personal Injury lawyers on 020 7814 1200, or email us at clinnegenquiries@kingsleynapley.co.uk.
We welcome views and opinions about the issues raised in this blog. Should you require specific advice in relation to personal circumstances, please use the form on the contact page.
Laura Sylvester
Hannah Eales
Richard Lodge
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