London medics 'stopped resuscitating newborn baby because they thought he was already dead'

Tragedy: Sebastian Sparrow died after treatment at the Royal Free Hospital
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Mark Chandler18 March 2016

The parents of a two-day-old baby boy who died at London's Royal Free Hospital after medics stopped resuscitating him, believing him to already be dead, have criticised an NHS investigation.

Sebastian Sparrow went without treatment for almost 90 minutes following a caesarean section carried out by a junior obstetrician at the hospital on November 6 2013.

An inquest this week heard doctors initially spent 30 minutes trying to revive the "pale and floppy" newborn before stopping because they believed he could not be saved.

But midwives found him "pink" and breathing by himself almost an hour-and-a-half after efforts had been halted.

Treatment was restarted but Sebastian had suffered fatal brain damage and died two days later after being transferred to University College Hospital.

Sebastian's parents Jamie and Sally Sparrow today criticised the NHS's “wholly inadequate investigation” into what may happened.

They said: "The Serious Incident Report prepared by the trust failed even to comment on the fact that the hospital misdiagnosed Sebastian's death.

“Nor did it even consider the possibility that the trauma to Sebastian's head was as a result of the multiple failed attempts of junior obstetricians to deliver his head.

"This failure to establish the facts makes it impossible for the NHS to identify possible errors and therefore learn from them, putting lives at unnecessary risk.

"It means that families like ourselves must spend years simply trying to establish the facts of what happened to their loved ones, reliving the worst moments of our lives, time and time again.

"This reluctance to properly investigate and report has to stop - the culture must change - they must learn from their mistakes and they cannot keep burying their heads in the sand."

Mary Hassell, the senior coroner for inner north London, recorded a narrative verdict at the inquest in which the main cause of death was hypoxic ischaemic encephalopathy, brain damage caused by a lack of oxygen.

She noted in her determination: "The reality was that Sebastian was not dead, but was dying.

"Still no plan was made. A midwife was not asked to remain with Sebastian. His parents were not told that their baby was still alive."

A spokesman for the Royal Free Hospital said: "We would like to apologise and express our deepest condolences to Sebastian's family.

"We carried out a full and thorough investigation and sought independent verification of our findings. As part of this investigation we have reviewed our processes and policies and in similar situations in future, the patient will be cared for by a member of staff in an appropriate setting.

"We note the findings of the coroner, who did not find fault with our reporting of, or investigation into, this tragic event."

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