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Mother told to book appointment to give birth to her dead baby

By · Published by Everything Blog

In short

Danielle Brown was seven months pregnant when an initial hospital warned that an emergency caesarean section was required due to a dropping fetal heart rate. After being transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, she was admitted to a ward and discharged the following day. Brown returned when her condition worsened, only to learn her daughter had died and that she had to arrange a future delivery slot herself. Two days later, she underwent a 10-hour labour to deliver her stillborn daughter.

Key points

  • The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust formally apologized and admitted care standards were no…: The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust formally apologized and admitted care standards were not met.
  • Campaigning parents demand that hospitals cease sending women home while carrying decease…: Campaigning parents demand that hospitals cease sending women home while carrying deceased babies.
  • Grieving families are calling for dedicated hospital exit routes away from maternity ward…: Grieving families are calling for dedicated hospital exit routes away from maternity wards and newborns.

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A pregnant woman whose baby had died was sent home from hospital still carrying the child and told to make an appointment later in the week to give birth.

Danielle Brown, 31, from North Tyneside, had already been wrongly discharged despite having the life-threatening condition pre-eclampsia and had returned because she was still unwell.

After insisting on returning to the maternity unit, she was finally seen and doctors discovered her baby had died. Danielle would later describe the silence, the screen turned away from her, and turning to her partner to say: "I think she's gone."

The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust said it fully accepted "aspects of the care we provided fell short" and offered a "heartfelt apology".

Danielle and her 34-year-old partner Anthony Miller had been delighted to learn they were having a baby girl.

"I was just over the moon, I couldn't be happier," Anthony said.

They decided to call their daughter Maisie.

But, seven months into her pregnancy in February 2023, Danielle woke…

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