A young mother claims hospital staff were at fault for her son almost dying - with one nurse even asking 'is he dead yet?'
Louise Huart says her and her baby boy, Keegan-James, 'are lucky to be here' after they both survived a battle for life through the birth process.
Her newborn son had suffered severe blood and fluid loss and contracted suspected sepsis during the delivery.
The 22-year-old from Bridlington, East Yorkshire, claims midwives at Scarborough General Hospital, where Keegan-James was delivered, should have realised he was in a life-threatening condition and ordered an emergency caesarean earlier.
After being transferred to Hull Women and Children’s Hospital after the birth, she said nurses told her that a member of staff from Scarborough had called to see if her baby 'was dead yet'.
The allegation was refuted by a hospital spokesperson, who said there was 'no evidence' the 'wholly unacceptable' comment was made by its staff.
She said: 'What happened to us was absolutely appalling. We are both so lucky to be here.'
Ms Huart was rushed to the hospital in Scarborough on May 13 by her partner, Leo Parker, 23, as her contractions fell to just two minutes apart and she received gas and air, pethidine and an epidural.
When her waters broke at 3.30am, they were thick with meconium, a sign that Keegan-James could be in distress.
Despite a monitor showing her son’s heart rate was dipping, she claims a doctor who attended to her said the baby was fine.
She had to have her epidural topped up twice, but by 7.30am her contractions had stopped completely.
'I thought he had just given up - it was heart-breaking.'
Finally, after being encouraged to deliver her child naturally for two hours without contractions, she headed for a caesarean section at 10.30am.
After she received another spinal injection, she had an asthma attack and fell unconscious.
'I’ve had asthma since I was a child but I don’t use inhalers and I don’t even go to reviews.'
She met her son for the first time after 39 hours after they were both transferred to Hull Women and Children’s Hospital.
She said: 'For the nine days we were there, staff in Hull were fantastic.
'On the day we were discharged, one of the nurses told me someone from Scarborough had called to see if Keegan-James was "dead yet".
'Obviously, they hadn’t expected him to survive.'
A spokesperson for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Scarborough Hospital, denied a staff member had made the comment.
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