Family of mom who died after contracting Herpes from surgeon during C-Section slams delays into probe
CANTERBURY, ENGLAND: The family of a new mother, who died of herpes she may have contracted from the surgeon who performed her C-section, has accused the NHS Trust of adding to their "pain and grief" by postponing an inquest into her death. Kimberley Sampson, 29, died on May 2018 at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM), handled by the East Kent Hospitals University NHS Trust (EKHUT).
The investigation into Sampson's death is running concurrently with a probe into Samantha Mulcahy's case, who died six weeks after the same doctor delivered her baby via C-section at the William Harvey Hospital, also handled by the EKHUT.
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Both the women's families have been waiting for answers for almost five years, and the inquest was scheduled to start on Monday, February 27, but was postponed owing to a last-minute request for reporting limitations from the trust. The press and attorneys representing the families have objected to EKHUT's request for a court injunction to prevent disclosing the identities of the surgeon and midwife involved in both incidents until the inquest is over, per DailyMail.
'Terribly sorry'
On Tuesday, February 28, which would have been the inquest's second day, Coroner Catherine Wood reportedly said that she was "terribly sorry" for postponing the inquest till April to consider both parties' pleas. Some of the family members were crying and had their head in their hands when their legal representatives staunchly opposed the move during the pre-inquest hearing on Wednesday, February 29, per The Herald.
Sampson's mother, Yvette, claimed after the hearing that the trust had been "'more focused on protecting itself' " than on providing the families with answers. She reportedly said, "For years it's felt a fight just to get to the stage of at least having an inquest into Kim's death," adding, "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 continued, "While we now have to wait for the inquest, I'll continue to fight to ensure I can at least get the answers I deserve as to why Kim died and also so that I can explain to her children when they're older what happened to her."
Sampson's family, according to medical malpractice law specialist Anna Vroobel who is representing the family, had been through three prior pre-inquest review sessions when the trust may have submitted its motion. Additionally, she added that the Kirkup Inquiry had unearthed "significant maternal breaches" at the EKHUT, which was now trying to cover things up to maintain its reputation.
'Trust's actions were disgraceful'
Mulcahy's mother, Nicola Foster, is being represented by Dr Anton Van Dellen, who called the trust's actions "disgraceful" and argued that its management was to blame. EKHUT maintained that it requested anonymity in order to save the surgeon's and midwife's reputations from negative media coverage. The full inquiry is scheduled to begin in April while the coroner has the final say on the application for anonymity.