Hazel Wiggins was about to take an abortion pill when she insisted on a second scan and discovered that little Amelia was sill ‘jumping all over the place’
A mum who was told her unborn child was dead has given birth to a baby girl after insisting medics do a second scan. Hazel Wiggins was just seconds away from taking a hospital abortion pill when she insisted on a further check. It showed the child was still alive.
Now, just weeks after giving birth to little Amelia, the community care worker has received an apology from the hospital.
Hazel, 36, claimed: “The midwife looked at my scan for 30 seconds and then said ‘I’m sorry, there is no heartbeat’ and turned the machine off.
“I said ‘Are you sure? You didn’t look at my stomach for very long,’ and she said, ‘Yes, I’m 100% sure’.
“I went home and just got into bed and mourned the death of the baby. I cried the whole day and night.”
Days later, Hazel was back at the hospital to start the first of a series of abortion pills, but deep down she could not accept her baby was dead.
“They kept saying that I needed to take the tablets and I said that I didn’t want to. I told them I wanted another scan. It went on for about 20 minutes.”
She dug in her heels until the nurses referred her for a second scan.
“I was telling the lady who was scanning me about what had happened when she stopped and looked at me, shocked,” said Hazel, from Prudhoe, Northumberland.
“She said, ‘I have a baby here who is jumping all over the place, the baby is alive’.”
The medic then turned the screen to Hazel, who is also mum to Dylan, 10. She said: “Amelia looked like she was saying to me ‘Mum, please don’t take the tablets, I’m alive’.”
Amelia was born on January 13, at Newcastle’s Royal Victoria Infirmary. Northumbria NHS Healthcare Foundation Trust has apologised and accepted liability for causing distress to Hazel last August at Hexham General Hospital and the matter was settled out of court.
Her case has led to a change in NHS policy on pre-natal scans. All expectant mothers who have a scan which shows their baby has died will now be automatically offered a second scan.
Dr Eliot Sykes, clinical director of emergency surgery and elective care, said: “We apologise wholeheartedly for unnecessary distress. We have fully investigated and made some important changes to ensure two scans are carried out whenever there are concerns about viability of the foetus. We appreciate this must have been a very worrying time and would like to reassure them that we have taken all appropriate steps to prevent this happening in future.”
Little Amelia was born with her liver and bowel on the outside of her body and respiratory problems but her health is improving every day.
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