Shropshire midwife faces charges over baby deaths
A misconduct case has opened against a midwife over the care of a baby who died just hours after she was born.
Heather Lort is accused of misconduct in the care of two babies, both of whom later died, when she was working at Ludlow Hospital, which was part of Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council tribunal has been told that Mrs Lort should have made an emergency referral for Kate Stanton-Davies after she was born "pale and floppy" on March 1, 2009.
Kate was found collapsed at around 11.30am and died six hours later despite being transferred to Birmingham's Heartlands Hospital.
Kate's mother and father, Rhiannon and Richard, are due to give evidence to the tribunal.
Mrs Lort did not attended the opening of hearing on Tuesday, but the panel decided to proceed, satisfied she was aware it was taking place and had chosen not to come.
The panel said "she has not admitted any of the charges".
The panel heard Lort failed to adequately record Kate's foetal heart rate between 8.45am and 10.03am and that she did not carry out an adequate assessment of Kate's Apgar score at one minute and five minutes after she was born.
An Apgar score measures the physical score of a newborn baby after birth.
Lort recorded that Kate – referred to as Baby A at the hearing – appeared pale and floppy after her birth at 10.03am but the midwife still gave her an Apgar of 9 with 10 being the highest.
The panel also heard that Lort should have made an emergency transfer of Kate on three occasions.
One of the charges faced by Mrs Lort is loss of chance of survival in the case of Kate.
The midwife is also accused of telling another expectant mother, referred only to as Mother D to 'go for a walk and have a drink' after Lort was unable to locate her baby's foetal heart rate on February 20, 2013.
As a result she is also charged with failing to send Mother D to a doctor and failing to activate the emergency alarm after she was unable to locate the foetal heart rate.
Case presenter Michael Collis told the panel: "After not being able to find a foetal heart rate for several minutes the registrant instructed Mother D to go for a walk and have a drink.
"This was an inappropriate response."
The baby was stillborn on February 21, 2013.
The tribunal continues.
