A doctor who helped to deliver the baby of a woman who died from herpes after potentially being infected by a surgeon said that it “did not cross his mind” that the new mother had the infection.
In 2018, 29-year-old Kimberly Sampson became seriously ill after her baby was delivered at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother hospital, Margate. She was transferred to King’s College hospital in London where she was diagnosed with a herpes infection and died on 22 May 2018.
Six weeks later, 32-year-old nursery nurse Samantha Mulcahy died from an infection caused by the same virus at the William Harvey hospital, Ashford. It was previously revealed that the two women had been operated on by the same surgeon following a BBC investigation.
An inquest into the deaths of Sampson and Mulcahy opened on Wednesday, following a delay to the original inquest due to East Kent NHS trust making an application for reporting restrictions on naming the surgeon in question.
Speaking at the inquest, God’swill Etokowo, one of the trust’s consultant obstetricians who assisted the surgeon in question – who has been granted anonymity – to deliver Mulcahy’s baby, said that although he was concerned that she was not well, he did not consider that she could have herpes.
Ekotowo told the inquest: “She did not have a rash or any of the symptoms. We saw a mild rash and we did not think that it was a herpes rash.”
He also said the hospital did not have much guidance on the herpes virus within pregnant women because it was “quite rare”.
She also had a rash close to her bottom and there were concerns over her having pre-eclampsia, a life-threatening high blood pressure condition, it was said.
Etokowo added: “I was not convinced she had pre-eclampsia, personally, but there was, of course, a chance.”
He said that although he was not convinced that Mulcahy had pre-eclampsia when she first arrived at the hospital, he said that in hindsight he would have sent a blood test away if there was any doubt over whether Mulcahy had an infection. Etokowo was also not aware of Kimberly Sampson’s death.
In March, the coroner, Catherine Wood, accepted an application from the trust to give anonymity to the surgeon common to both cases.
After that hearing was adjourned, Sampson’s mother, Yvette, issued a statement that said: “While the feeling of hurt and loss at Kim’s death has never gone away, those feelings have really come to the fore again over the last few weeks as we thought that the time was coming for us to finally get answers.”
She said: “The most important thing should have been to establish how two young mums died and how their children have been left without their mummies.”
The inquest continues.
