A mother-of-five died from a massive internal haemorrhage after giving birth at a hospital where staff misdiagnosed her as being dehydrated and gave her a ginger biscuit, an inquest heard. Laura-Jane Seaman, 36, was ‘begging staff to help her’ and pleading that she didn’t want to die but medics from a ‘range of disciplines’ failed to listen. Her concerns were ignored despite it being known she was at high risk of postpartum haemorrhage – heavy post-birth bleeding – and her desperate warnings that she could feel bleeding, felt dizzy and her limbs had gone numb. Ms Seaman ended up suffering two cardiac arrests when her condition deteriorated and she died two days later, despite an emergency operation in which several pints of blood were found in her abdomen. In an excoriating ruling this week, coroner Sonia Hayes said her death at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex, was ‘avoidable and contributed to by neglect’. Healthcare professionals were responsible for multiple ‘gross failures’ and would not have died if these had not occurred, she added. ‘She would have and should have survived. Laura-Jane should not have been left with no emergency review when the signs indicated she was seriously unwell,’ Ms Hayes said. In an extremely rare decision, the coroner accepted the case should come under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which addresses an individual’s right to life. Such cases are common when the person is in the care of the state, such as prison inmates or mental health patients, but highly unusual in a medical setting. Ms Seaman’s partner Haydn Hewitt, 31, and other family members are considering a civil case for compensation against Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust. They said in a statement: ‘We urge all those involved in Laura-Jane’s care to reflect on the failures in her treatment. ‘Nothing gave her more joy than being a mum. That’s all she ever wanted to be and that’s what she did best.’ Care support worker Ms Seaman had a normal vaginal delivery on December 21, 2022. She breastfed her son and there were plans to send her home before her condition began to deteriorate. It was later established the internal bleeding had gone on for hours before she had emergency surgery and was admitted to intensive care, where she died. Ms Seaman’s treatment was hampered because notes about her health were annotated on a piece of paper, which meant concerns were not escalated promptly. Concluding the inquest on Monday, Ms Hayes found there was a failure to trigger a major haemorrhage protocol and a lack of intervention by a multi-disciplinary consultant. Staffs’ inability to obtain vital signs after Ms Seaman fell unconscious ‘were incorrectly attributed to malfunctioning equipment’. The coroner added there should have been a mandatory escalation before Ms Seaman died and warned she would be writing a prevention of future deaths report. Suzanne White, head of clinical negligence at law firm Leigh Day, who represented the family, said: ‘She had a high-risk pregnancy, which should have been consultant-led, and observations were not appropriately undertaken which would have indicated how quickly Laura-Jane was deteriorating. ‘The coroner’s experts made it clear whilst giving evidence that Laura-Jane would have survived had the most basic level of care been given to her.’ Maternity services at the hospital were rated as ‘requires improvement’ in the most recent Care Quality Commission inspection. A spokesman for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘Our focus has been on improving training in recognising the early signs of deterioration and escalation routes in our maternity services to prevent this from happening again.’
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