Baby death due to medical negligence

The Coroner has retired to consider his verdict at the end of an Inquest into a baby who was delivered by Caesarean section but who died a few hours after being delivered at Royal Cornwall Hospital. The family believe there are systematic failures at the hospital.

Evidence has centred on the maternity unit at the time of her death.

The family believe that the baby's death was caused because of systematic failures at the hospital.

The proceedings, held in Truro, saw the coroner Mr Andrew Walker listening to the Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust arguing that a subsequent independent inquiry into her death had found there was no need for major changes at the hospital and that the inquiry had made a number of recommendations for improvements which had been acted on.

Hospital bosses at The Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust have also been criticised by the health regulator for the way they manage patients' medication.

The trust was one of 12 branded "weak" by the Healthcare Commission, which has published a league table of how all 173 NHS trusts in England performed in the area of medicine management