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A woman has been awarded £18,000 in personal injury compensation after her baby died less than 20 minutes after birth because of a shortage of beds.
Jane Howarth was forced to wait for three days before her labour was induced because there were no beds available at Leeds General Infirmary. It was during this time that her unborn daughter, Caitlin-Rose, contracted pneumonia because of an infection in the foetal fluid and subsequently died shortly after being born.
The coroner presiding over the inquest into the baby's death ruled that medical negligence had taken place and said, "On the balance of probabilities Caitlin died because of a delay between the mother's water breaking and the eventual induction of labour. And such a delay was the result of a shortage of beds in the delivery suite in Leeds General Infirmary.
Taking her personal injury compensation claim to court, Mrs Howarth received £10,000 in bereavement damages, £5,000 for psychiatric treatment and £3,000 for funeral costs.
After the verdict she told waiting journalists, "I hope no other mother will experience this. I shouldn't have been left that long.
"I have no criticism of the doctors and midwives in the delivery suite who were brilliant. But some of the care I got in the ante-natal ward and lack of communication between them and the delivery ward was very bad."
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