Civil claim against Trust for clinical negligence

A Nursing & Midwifery Council hearing to assess whether two midwives at the Brighton & Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust are fit to continue practicing following the death of Lucas Bostock Carver is taking place at the Nursing & Midwifery Council Headquarters London on 17 – 19 March.

Holly Young from law firm Irwin Mitchell’s medical law and patient’s rights department is representing Lucas’ parents, Lisa Bostock and Mathew Carver, in a civil claim against the Trust for clinical negligence.  She said: “Lucas died as a result of an untreated infected umbilical cord. Despite being prescribed antibiotics by the paediatrician, the midwives advised his parents that they need not administer them because his umbilical cord stump looked fine. He died at home shortly afterwards from an overwhelming infection. He was 5 days old.

"Lisa and Mathew are hoping that the Nursing & Midwifery Council hearing will give them the opportunity to better understand how their newborn son came to die under such circumstances and hope that the proceedings will answer some, as yet, unanswered questions."

Lisa Bostock said: "When we walked into the Brighton Hospital we expected to be coming home with a little baby and to live happily ever after. Instead, Lucas died and our lives have been shattered.

"The paediatrician suspected a cord infection and antibiotics were prescribed but never given. Midwifery staff did not seem to take the paediatrician’s advice regarding the infection seriously. I understand that if the antibiotics had been given, they most probably would have saved his life.

"Lucas was so precious to us, yet we feel that midwifery staff from the Trust treated him so casually.  We urge other parents to be very careful about cord care; untreated infections can kill."