Midwives 'told mums to abort healthy babies'

Published: 2013 November 02 12:04:33 (4525 Views)

Hundreds of pregnant mums may have been advised to abort healthy babies by a blundering hospital.

The scare comes after it was revealed a mum-to-be was wrongly told her baby was dead after inadequate scans.

A damning report says the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff may have made many similar mistakes.

Welsh Labour MP Ann Clwyd said the scandal "did not surprise her" and is calling for "a full-scale inquiry into the "failings of the Welsh NHS".

In July 2012 Emily Wheatley was told she had had a silent miscarriage, where a baby dies with no symptoms.

It was only when she went to another hospital for a uterine evacuation that she leant she was actually nine weeks pregnant with a healthy foetus.

Emily, 31, of Monmouth, who later gave birth to Ella, now eight months, said: "It's just unbelievable. It frightens me. Maybe hundreds of babies have been lost."

Peter Tyndall, Public Service Ombudsman for Wales, rounded on the UHW, saying it had been guilty of an "unacceptable mistake" and called for a review of midwife sonographers' competency.

He believes flaws in their practices may go back to 2006 and says other mums had "clearly" been affected.

Mr Tyndall said that staff, after using two scans to "discover" a silent miscarriage, should done a third and different type of different scan to give them a "more accurate picture" and to confirm results. They failed to do so.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists says all three tests should be carried out.

Mr Tyndall added: "Clinical practices of midwives at the University Hospital of Wales... have been potentially flawed. I expect women diagnosed with early miscarriages who then underwent uterine evacuation will find this extremely disturbing."

UHW delivers around 6,000 babies every year with between 600 and 1,200 women suffering miscarriages.

In 2011 researchers at Imperial College London said more than 400 women a year may be ending healthy pregnancies unnecessarily each year after being told they have miscarried.

Cardiff and Vale University Health Board's executive director of nursing Ruth Walker said it was "genuinely sorry it has taken an ombudsman's report for Mrs Wheatley to receive the answers she deserved".

She said correct procedures are now followed.

A helpline has been set up for women to see if they may have been affected.

There has been a long debate within the health service about the best way to diagnose miscarriages. But the guidelines followed by midwives are now better than they have ever been.

However, I realise some women are bound to be upset and concerned at what has taken place at the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff.

Some may well be wondering if they might have lost a healthy baby. I would tell them that it would be very unlikely to have happened to them.

I can assure women that the diagnosis of miscarriages is a subject that the NHS and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists have talked about for a good few years.

Mistakes do happen, but it is very difficult to diagnose a miscarriage in the early stages of pregnancy, which is why midwives are so cautious and we have the guidelines that we do now.

There will always be a debate about the best way to diagnose miscarriages and about whether the present safety margins are adequate.

But mothers can be confident that everything is being done to ensure that their pregnancy is dealt with in the best possible way.

I would advise any woman who is concerned to call the hotline number 0800 952 0244 or contact the Miscarriage Association for advice.

- Mirror

Tags: abortion, mistake,

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