Death of Essex mum who begged Broomfield Hospital staff not to let her die was avoidable

The death of a mother-of-five two days after giving birth was avoidable and followed a series of "basic failures" by the hospital caring for her, a coroner has concluded.

Laura-Jane Seaman begged medical staff not to let her die after her health rapidly deteriorated while still on the maternity ward at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex.

An inquest into her death found the risk to the mum's life had been "obvious" and the right care and treatment "would have saved" her, with the coroner adding that Ms Seaman had died "as a consequence of basic failures by healthcare professionals".

Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust said maternity staff had since had further training to "prevent this from happening again".

Ms Seaman had had a relatively short and uneventful labour, giving birth in the early hours of 21 December 2022.

The 36-year-old was breastfeeding her baby, sitting up in hospital and waiting to be discharged when, just two hours later, she started to feel unwell.

Over the next few hours, Ms Seaman, who was at high risk of a post-partum haemorrhage, asked medics if she was bleeding, told them "I feel like I am gushing" and begged "please don't let me die".

But, according to solicitors Leigh Day, her concerns were not taken seriously enough. Medical staff put her symptoms down to dehydration and, when she lost consciousness, she was given a biscuit.

Medics missed chances to spot signs in her observations and put an inability to obtain vital signs down to faulty equipment rather than Ms Seaman's obvious deterioration.

Poor handovers between departments meant doctors were unaware of her medical history.

At 6.30am on 21 December, Ms Seaman went into cardiac arrest as a result of major internal bleeding. She had four surgeries, involving multiple blood transfusions.

She died two days later on 23 December.

Following the conclusion of the inquest at Essex Coroner's Court, Ms Seaman's family urged the hospital trust to take "swift action to ensure that these failures are never made again".

They said they had been blessed to have Ms Seaman in their lives "if only for a short time", adding: "Laura-Jane had the widest smile, the most infectious laugh and knew how to make everyone in the room feel important.

"Nothing gave her more joy however than being a mum, that’s all she ever wanted to be and that’s what she did best. She would be so proud of her children if she could see them now."

Coroner Sonia Hayes found that Ms Seaman's vital signs had shown an "obvious" risk to her life for more than two and a half hours and that "action taken with multi-disciplinary consultant-led review would have resulted in care and treatment ... that was available and would have saved Laura-Jane's life".

She concluded: "Laura Jane's death was avoidable and was contributed to by neglect."

Suzanne White, head of clinical negligence at Leigh Day, said: "Mid and South Essex NHS Trust must acknowledge the failures in care, confirmed by the coroner’s conclusion, and put into place robust procedures to make sure that this tragedy never happens again.

"Women giving birth at the trust need to be reassured that they and their babies are safe within the maternity setting."

Diane Sarkar, chief nursing and equality officer for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: "We extend our sincerest sympathies and condolences to the family of Laura-Jane. Her tragic death has affected us all at the trust greatly.

"Following investigations into the circumstances that led to her death, 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.

"We thank the coroner for her detailed review and have listened carefully to her comments and the evidence heard at inquest, all of which will inform our efforts to continue to improve maternity services at the trust."

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know