The NHS has apologised to a woman who tragically suffered a miscarriage at nine months after being sent home by doctors despite bleeding and vomiting.
Rebekah Muldowney was classed as low-risk when she was admitted to Pinderfields Hospital with the worrying symptoms on August 16, 2020.
At 40 weeks pregnant, she was sent home with painkillers following an assessment of the baby - but had to return later the same day when she began experiencing contractions.
Around an hour and a half after she was admitted she warned medics that she was alarmed about the baby's movements.
Three hours later, an ultrasound was carried out to check on the foetus' heartbeat and confirmed the worst - the baby had died, Yorkshire Live report.
Rebekah is urging other parents-to-be to get a second opinion after the devastating experience and has called out doctors who she says didn't listen to her concerns.
“When I was admitted into hospital the second time, I was classed as low risk," she said.
"Because of this, I was treated just like a scared first-time mum and I wasn’t listened to when I raised concerns about Theo’s reduced movements. I ended up being stuck on a waiting list while my baby was in distress."
Rebekah and her husband Thomas are still reeling from the tragedy almost a year on after the family plans they made for when the baby arrived came crashing down.
They had even come up with a name for the little girl - Theodora - and will likely never get over the heartbreak.
Rebekah, 34, added: "It’s not even a year since she died and I think about her every day and often imagine what she would be like now.
"It’s absolutely devastating to know that we’ll never see her grow up. It breaks our hearts.
“I don’t think we’ll ever get over losing Theodora so tragically.
"We were both looking forward to being parents and my pregnancy went by with no problems, so it never even crossed my mind that we wouldn’t be taking our baby girl home from hospital with us and starting a life with her."
Labour was eventually induced at hospital and Theodora was delivered stillborn at around 3.30pm two days later.
A post mortem examination report stated the cause of death as acute chorioamniotisis, which is a bacterial infection affecting the membranes surrounding the baby.
Following their baby’s death, Rebekah and her husband Thomas, 34, instructed medical negligence experts at Irwin Mitchell to investigate mum and baby’s care under Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
Through NHS Resolution, the Trust has now admitted a breach of duty.
It acknowledges there were failings in relation to the care provided to Rebekah at Pinderfields’s maternity unit and that there were elements of care that “fell below the standard she and her family were entitled to expect.”
The Trust sent a letter of apology to Rebekah, and the parties are working together now to reach a settlement for the family.
“We would give anything to turn back the clock and for things to be different but we know that’s not possible," said Rebekah, from Bradford.
"All we can do now is share what happened and urge other mums-to-be to push for a second opinion if they think something’s not right and advocate for themselves".
David Melia, director of nursing and quality at The Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We offer our deepest, heartfelt condolences and sympathy to the family and we understand that this has been a very traumatic time for all involved.
"Our own investigation into the care we gave the patient and her baby, recognised that the care provided to them was deficient and fell below the standard they were entitled to expect.
“We are truly saddened that this care led to the heartbreaking death of their baby, and of course no amount of compensation can replace their loss.
“We want to reassure the family that measures have been put in place to try to prevent this happening to another family.”
