A pregnant woman’s baby died after she was told ‘not to be dramatic’ by medics who dismissed her red flag symptoms as a stomach bug.
Katalin Szabo’s son Dexter passed away at 27 weeks gestation in December 2020, as maternity staff neglected to act in an emergency situation despite her consistent complaints about severe pain, vomiting, and high blood pressure.
Her partner James Moore, who was forced to wait in the parking lot due to Covid protocols, was reassured over the phone by the unit that everything was normal, only to receive a devastating call from Ms. Szabo moments later informing him of their son’s demise.
She had experienced a placental abruption – where the placenta detaches from the womb too early – which had been missed.
The pair, consisting of a HR professional and IT security engineer, have criticized the treatment they underwent at Hinchingbrooke Hospital in Cambridgeshire, describing it as substandard.
They claimed hospital staff failed to continuously monitor the baby’s heartrate, omitted vital details from Ms Szabo’s notes and made documentation errors – including recording the wrong time of death and misspelling their son’s name on official paperwork.
‘We just felt absolutely fobbed off from start to finish. Kat was treated like her concerns didn’t matter,’ said Mr Moore.
‘Knowing this could all have been so different if we’d just driven to a different hospital is a hard pill to swallow.
Katalin Szabo’s (pictured) son Dexter died 27 weeks into her pregnancy in December 2020 after maternity staff failed to intervene in an emergency, despite her repeatedly raising concerns about severe pain, vomiting and high blood pressure
Her partner James Moore (left), who had been made to wait in the car park due to Covid restrictions, was told everything was fine when he rang the unit, only to receive a call from Ms Szabo shortly afterwards to tell him their son had died
‘The lockdown restrictions made everything worse – if I had been allowed to stay and advocate for Kat, Dexter may have lived.’
Ms Szabo, who worked in HR, had attended the maternity unit twice in November 2020 after developing vomiting and high blood pressure in her second trimester.
At the time, a midwife dismissed the first-time mother’s concerns, telling her ‘not to be dramatic’.
She then returned to the unit in the evening of December 2 after developing new severe pain in her abdomen and back. This time, a doctor who saw her dismissed the symptoms as a stomach bug.
Staff tried to discharge Ms Szabo at 1.50am on December 3 but she refused to leave, fearing something was more seriously wrong as her pain was not being relieved by painkillers. Within an hour, staff could no longer find a heartbeat.
Mr Moore, 34, said: ‘The next call I received was from Kat telling me our baby was dead.
‘She was in so much pain and she was sure it was something more than a stomach bug.
‘High blood pressure is a risk factor for placental abruption, as is significant pain, so we just want to know why was continuous heartbeat monitoring not used?
‘This could have given a window for an emergency Caesarean which could have saved our baby’s life.’
Ms Szabo, now 36, remains too traumatised by the experience to speak about what happened.
North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which manages Hinchingbrooke Hospital, has not admitted any liability or to any failings in Ms Szabo’s care. It has agreed a settlement with the couple for £20,000
The couple, a HR professional and IT security engineer have said the care they received was ‘third world’
North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which manages Hinchingbrooke Hospital, has not admitted any liability or to any failings in Ms Szabo’s care. It has agreed a settlement with the couple for £20,000.
Mr Moore described the figure as ‘a slap in the face’. ‘They valued Dexter’s life at a total of £20,000,’ he added. ‘It was never about money – I would of course take my living child over any amount of money. But we didn’t know how else to get their attention [outside of taking legal action] – we had made a complaint and they didn’t care.’
The couple have since had another son, born at a different hospital.
‘Our message to all pregnant women and partners is if you’re not 100 per cent satisfied with the care you’re receiving, ask for a second opinion,’ added Mr Moore.
‘The NHS is on its knees and, although people want to do their best and there are some exceptional people working in the NHS, things are falling apart – so you now have to demand the care you need.’
The couple have been supported in their legal case by Nathan Bunch, an associate at law firm Slater and Gordon. He said: ‘There were very clearly failings in the care given to Katalin… The red flags were there and should have been spotted and acted upon.
‘Katalin and James are understandably absolutely devastated at the loss of Dexter.
‘Knowing the outcome could have been so different if only they were listened to, and Katalin received the care she needed in the critical time window, is very hard for them to deal with.
‘Lessons need to be learned urgently from what went wrong in this heart-breaking case.’
Hinchingbrooke Hospital faced criticism after babies died in 2019 and 2021 when warning signs were missed and the babies were delivered by emergency Caesarean section hours too late.
However its maternity unit was upgraded from ‘requires improvement’ to ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission in June 2023.
North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust did not comment.
