An angry mother has slammed a hospital after claiming she was advised to take a 'warm bath' while heavily pregnant which left her son with permanent disabilities. Dilshad Sultana says her baby Shanto Khaliquzzaman was starved of oxygen after Birmingham Women’s hospital wrongly told her to stay at home and then ‘failed to spot his deteriorating heartbeat’.
The concerned mum said she contacted staff after feeling stomach pain and noticing her baby's movements were reduced on June 20, 2019, Birmingham Live reports. The 31-year-old alleges that she was told to have a 'warm bath' and to call back when her contractions were coming every three minutes.
Knowing something was not right, Dilshad contacted the hospital again that same evening when she was then told to come in. She arrived at 10.30pm and little Shanto was born the following morning via emergency caesarean at around 1.15am on June 21.
Shanto had to be resuscitated and he spent 22 days on a ventilator in intensive care where he suffered seizures. Tests showed that delays in Shanto's birth meant he had extreme brain injury, multiple brain haemorrhages and cardiac arrest.
At one stage heartbroken Dilshad claims was even told about ‘palliative’, end of life care for her newborn son. The tot has since been diagnosed with a lifelong condition called cerebral palsy and cannot walk, talk or even sit by himself.
The now three-year-old has been left reliant on other people for all aspects of his care. Dilshad, who was 18 days away from a planned C-section at the time, said: “When I arrived at hospital I told the midwives that I couldn’t feel my baby move but they tried to reassure me that they were monitoring it.
"I knew something wasn’t quite right, but it felt that they weren’t really listening to me. As the hours went by nothing was really done then I was suddenly told I was having a C-section.
"At that point it felt like everyone was in a rush. There were doctors and nurses but it was so quiet.
“When Shanto was born I immediately feared the worse. He looked very poorly and then I was told he was being taken to neo-natal intensive care.”
After her son's devastating diagnosis, Dilshad sued the hospital and said she 'wanted lessons to be learned'. as she instructed solicitors, Irwin Mitchell, to pursue her medical negligence claim. Birmingham Women's and Children NHS Foundation Trust admitted liability and acknowledged their failure to advise Dilshad to attend the hospital when she originally called.
It is believed that had she been informed to come into hospital, then a deterioration in his heart rate would have been defected sooner, leading to an earlier delivery. Shanto may then have been delivered before he suffered permanent brain damage.
The Trust has now made a voluntary interim payment allowing the family to move to a new home specifically designed to meet Shanto’s care, therapy and equipment needs. A final settlement cannot be finalised until Shanto is older and the full extent of his future life-long career needs is planned.
Dilshad’s lawyer, Sara Burns, said: “This is a tragic case which resulted in Shanto suffering devastating but avoidable injuries which will affect him and his family for the rest of his life. While we welcome the Trust’s co-operation in this case, the family would rather not be in this position.
“What happened to Shanto is a stark reminder of the life-changing consequences families can be left to face because of maternity care failings. Every second counts when delivering babies in distress and it’s vital that lessons are learned so others don’t have to suffer the pain that this family have been through.
"We continue to campaign for improvements in maternity safety nationally.” Dilshad, who also has a four-year-old daughter, Anjana Aminuzzaman, has now joined Irwin MItchell in supporting Cerebral Palsy Awareness Month and in campaigning to improve maternity safety.
She said: “Seeing Shanto in intensive care fighting for his life was the hardest thing I think I’ll ever have to go through. All the family were hoping and praying he would somehow pull through. Palliative care was discussed but we had to give him every chance possible.
“We’re so grateful to have Shanto in our lives and so proud of the fight and determination he shows every day. While we have answers as to what happened to him, trying to come to terms with how Shanto won’t have the life we hoped for him is difficult.
“He’s three years old and is supposed to walk and talk, develop as a person, and cause mischief with his big sister. However, he can’t do any of that.
“I can’t explain how terrible it feels when my friends’ kids are running around, and he can’t do that because of those mistakes. I just hope that by speaking out I can help prevent other families having to go through what we have.”
Dr Fiona Reynolds, chief medical officer at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust, said: “We’d like to offer our heartfelt apologies again to the family. It’s clear the standard of care we offered to them fell below those required and expected. For this, we are truly sorry.”
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