A COUPLE who were wrongly told their baby had died following a hospital operation are suing Worcestershire Royal Hospital.

Mum Nadia Jones was rushed into surgery for an emergency caesarean section at the hospital in Newtown Road, Worcester, after, she claims, midwives failed to spot problems with her pregnancy.

Mother-of-three Mrs Jones, aged 37, and husband Steven, ages 45, are now seeking compensation from Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs the Royal, Kidderminster and Redditch hospitals.

Mrs Jones claims she was sent home from the health unit earlier without staff carrying out routine checks on her baby. Shortly after an emergency caesarean section, medics told the couple that Harry was stillborn even though he was still alive and fighting for his life, they say. The couple were reunited with newborn Harry more than two hours after being told he was dead but he survived a few hours more before dying in his father’s arms.

A security guard had found Mr Jones, maintenance engineer, in the hospital grounds and the couple learnt their son was still clinging onto life. Mrs Jones, from Kidderminster, said: “I thought the mistakes made by the midwives were bad enough but it was simply unbelievable that they could tell us our child was dead when he wasn’t. I don’t think we’ll ever truly get over it.”

Mrs Jones said an investigation into his death revealed Harry died because of a lack of oxygen and septicaemia.

Problems began on September 12, 2004 when her waters broke at home and midwives did not induce labour.

Routine checks which would have indicated the baby was in distress were not carried out and the couple were told to go home, Mrs Jones said.

She returned to hospital the next day, and the day after, when she told midwives she was worried about changes in her baby’s movements. But she says she was told that she had nothing to worry about and to go home.

But when Mrs Jones returned to hospital for the fourth time, on September 15, she said a midwife spent more than half-an-hour trying without success to find the baby’s heartbeat.

Then a second midwife was called and an emergency caesarean section took place.

She feels she can never forgive the mistakes she said were made by the staff at the hospital.

Mrs Jones is represented by Birmingham-based Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, which is backing a campaign to raise awareness of the problems caused by birth trauma.

A spokesman for Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust said: “We cannot comment on this matter at this stage as it is the subject of legal proceedings.”