The heartbroken parents of a "miracle" baby who tragically died at just two days old claim the hospital where he was born was short on staff and allege a feeding tube which was fitted incorrectly may have contributed towards his death.
At an inquest held on April 19, James and Karolina Curry revealed how they gave birth to their firstborn son Cassian at a hospital on April 3, 2021.
The baby boy weighed just 750 grams when he was born at Sheffield Teaching Hospital at 28 weeks, but he was so small that doctors said he was the size of a typical 24 week old baby.
The news comes just two weeks after the Jessop Wing at Sheffield Teaching Hospital was given an inadequate rating by the Care Quality Commission (CQC), which has ordered the Trust to make a number of improvements, Yorkshire Live reports.
Cassian, who was born after a successful round of IVF treatment, was described by his devastated parents as a "miracle" baby. Several previous rounds of IVF had ended in failure or miscarriage.
Karolina spoke about the "chaotic" nature of the birth, where she struggled to get the attention of nurses on the ward.
"I kept ringing my bedside buzzer, but at one point I waited 25 minutes for someone to come," she said in a witness impact statement read out in court. "I was screaming. No one checked to see if I was dilated, but when they pulled back the sheets I was fully dilated."
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Karolina was quickly transferred to the delivery ward, but she gave birth so quickly that her partner didn't arrive in time to see Cassian being born. Because Cassian was premature, he was rushed to the neo-natal ICU ward within minutes of his birth so he could receive specialist treatment.
It was here that two catheters were inserted to feed and monitor him. The court heard how doctors mistakenly inserted an Umbilical Venous Catheter (UVC) into Cassian's liver twice before a third insertion was signed off by a senior member of staff. But Cassian's family have alleged the UVC was placed in a "sub-optimal position".
"The type of line was never discussed with us or that it needed several attempts to get it fitted," said Karolina. "We were not told of any of the risks of the UVC."
One of the doctors on the ward noted that she "didn't have any concerns about Cassian's UVC". Another doctor, who inserted the UVC, said she was told by a senior member of staff, Dr Elizabeth Pilling, the UVC "was in an acceptable position".
James and Karolina have also alleged they saw Cassian's heart rate monitor soar to 200 beats per minute "for about 15 or 20 seconds" on the ICU ward. They claim that when this was raised with nurses, they were told this was "fine".
At 1am on April 5, 2021 - less than 48 hours after Cassian was born - Karolina said she was told to go to the ICU "immediately" to see her son.
"When I got onto the ward I saw a lot of people around his incubator," she said. "There was no heart rate showing on the monitor and his machine was beeping loudly. That's how I found out my son was dying. I tried to scream but nothing came out."
Several doctors tried to resuscitate Cassian, but he was pronounced dead at 2.20am.
"I was shaking and crying. They put my dead son in my arms. No one told me they were going to do that. James arrived a few minutes later and found our dead son in my arms. No one told us anything. We didn't know what had happened."
The family have since claimed there were "serious issues with staffing" on the ward.
"It cost Cassian his life and it cost us our son," said Karolina. "It distresses me that Cassian was in so much pain. Cassian died in the early hours of the Bank Holiday Monday. We can't get our heads around this - how giving birth on a Bank Holiday means your baby dies."
The family also claimed that a priest at the hospital caused them further pain when he allegedly poured water from a plastic bottle to baptise Cassian. They were also left to wait for weeks to speak to a counsellor after being handed leaflets several weeks after Cassian's death.
"I was so upset," said Karolina. "I felt it disrespected me and it disrespected Cassian."
The inquest continues.
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