Chepstow mum calls for inquests for stillborn babies

Katie Wood’s son Oscar was stillborn in 2015, however she still has no definitive answer to how he died.

Mrs Wood said that she wanted to find out the answers to what happened to Oscar, having not received satisfactory answers from Aneurin Bevan University Health Board’s Serious Concerns Report.

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“I would like an inquest as I want the truth,” she said. “At the end of the day, my son is dead and no amount of finger pointing will change that.

“But I don’t want any other families to go through this. It’s quite cruel.

“When you don’t get a definitive answer as to why your baby has died, it’s really hard to get any closure.

“If your baby doesn’t take a breath, that’s it. We had to come back and tell our four-year-old that the baby had died. And we couldn’t tell her why, we had to tell her that his heart had just stopped.”

Katie Wood has called for a change in the law to allow for inquests to be held for stillborn babies. Picture: Family photo.

The UK Government launched a consultation on proposals to give coroners the power to investigate all full-term stillbirths in March 2019, but the findings have yet to be published.

Currently, coroners can only hold inquests for babies who have shown signs of life after being born. They cannot investigate where the pregnancy appeared healthy but the baby was stillborn – as in the case of Mrs Wood and Oscar. 

Mrs Wood said she was not aware that you could ask for an independent investigation, instead of the health board conducting their own investigation, until after the 12-month deadline had passed.

Mrs Wood told the Argus that there had been nothing of concern during the course of her pregnancy with Oscar.

“I had a miscarriage before I fell pregnant with Oscar,” she said. “When I fell pregnant with Oscar, the pregnancy went along okay.

“When I was 35-36 weeks pregnant, I then had six weeks’ worth of growth in two weeks. My midwife suggested that I went for a scan.

“He was a very big baby. The midwife said it wasn’t really something to worry about.

Katie Wood pregnant with Oscar. Picture: Family photo.

“We arrived at hospital at around 6.30am on March 29. I hadn’t really slept for a few nights before. I was so big then that I struggled to move around.

“They put a CTG monitor on me and I was listening to his heartbeat.

“It got to about 9am and the lady came to do a scan and said the baby’s head was in the pelvis. They wheeled me over to the labour ward.

“I remember them saying for me to push. I hadn’t had anything except gas and air at this point.

“I remember seeing a look that the midwife gave the other lady. I thought something’s not quite right here.

“At about 9.30am the emergency people came in. The way they got Oscar out was to put their hand in and under his arm and pull him out.

“He was taken to the resuscitation table. I looked over to my husband and it was written all over his face.

“After about 20 minutes they stopped resuscitation.”

The health board conducted a serious incident investigation following Oscar’s stillbirth, which listed a number of failings.

“We still haven’t had anything on how our baby died,” said Mrs Wood. “They only had hypotheses.”

Oscar Wood's handprints. Picture: Family photo.

A spokesperson for Aneurin Bevan University Health Board said: “Our thoughts are with Oscar’s family at this very difficult time. The loss of a child during pregnancy or birth is devastating and painful.

“Whilst we seek to find answers during any investigation, in some cases, a full understanding around the cause of death may not always be achieved and we accept the unavoidable distress this may pose for families.

“The health board conducted a robust serious incident investigation into the care and circumstances surrounding Oscar’s stillbirth. The findings of that investigation have been shared fully and openly with Oscar’s family, and the Health Board have met with the family on a number of occasions.

“In the event of a change in law regarding inquests for stillborn babies, we will absolutely assist and fully co-operate with the Senior Coroner for Gwent and bereaved families on this matter.”

A Welsh Government spokesperson, said they were “working with the Ministry of Justice on the consultation on changing the law on inquests for stillbirths.”

“A loss of a child is incredibly tragic and we know families will have many questions,” they added.

“In Wales we review the circumstances and care leading up to and surrounding each stillbirth, parents input into this is vital. The review is then shared with families.”

You can sign Mrs Wood's petition at change.org/p/house-of-commons-getting-inquests-into-stillborn-cases.