Mother who lost baby girl ‘not told about dangers of natural home birth’

The mother of a baby who tragically died from complications from her natural home birth has told an inquest which ruled ‘Nothing will ever bring her back’.

Poppy Hope Lomas was rushed to hospital when her heart rate dropped during the ‘unsafe home birth’ her mother insists she was encouraged by midwives to have.

She was just seven days old when she died at University College Hospital, central London, on October 26 2022.

The planned home delivery took place with Edgware Midwives, the designated home birth team at Barnet Hospital which is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.

Senior coroner Andrew Walker told the inquest into the baby’s death at Barnet Coroner’s Court, north London, that the trust agreed to support Poppy’s mother Gemma Lomas with an ‘unsafe home delivery that was against medical advice’ and failed to address ‘an accumulation of risk factors’.

Poppy’s parents Gemma and Jason Lomas, from Enfield, north London, held hands as Mr Walker gave his concluding remarks on Thursday.

In his concluding remarks, Mr Walker told the court: ‘The trust agreed to support Ms Lomas with an unsafe home delivery that was against medical advice and the guidance provided by Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (Rcog).

‘The home delivery midwives worked against a background of an accumulation of risk factors including a prolonged rupture of the membranes without antibiotic cover, two decelerations around one and a half hours before delivery, the slow delivery and poor condition at birth.

‘There was a failure to recognise and appropriately manage these risk factors.’

He said this resulted in an ‘absence or delay in interventions and actions’.

Midwife Sasha Field, who was present at Poppy’s birth, said that an ambulance should have been called when she heard the baby’s heart rate slow down after a contraction.

Ms Field said emergency services should have been called around 90 minutes before Poppy was born, when the decelerations were recorded.

Mr Walker said: ‘To not discuss with Ms Lomas the decelerations and a decision to return to hospital is likely to be a really serious failure to provide basic medical care to Ms Lomas.’

The inquest heard Ms Lomas was not told of the risks involved with delivering naturally at her home, having already given birth to her first daughter Willow by Caesarean in 2018.

Ms Lomas told the court that Alice Boardman, who was head midwife at Edgware Midwives and present at Poppy’s birth, actively encouraged her to have a vaginal birth after Caesarean (VBAC) at home.

Guidance from the Rcog states VBACs should take place in a ‘suitably staffed and equipped delivery suite’ and ‘with resources available for immediate caesarean delivery’.

The coroner made four recommendations to the Department of Health and Social Care, including that patients should sign a consent form ‘clearly’ setting out the risks when they choose not to follow medical advice for delivery.

He added multi-disciplinary meetings with the consultant obstetrician, hospital midwives, home delivery midwives and the patient should be held when a patient chooses ‘an unsafe birth at home’ so they are aware of the risks to their baby and themselves.

The coroner also said: ‘It is a matter of concern that the nationally used expression ‘out of guidance’ is used in these circumstances, when the patient has chosen an unsafe birth at home and in doing so has decided to refuse to consent to the care the hospital recommend for the management of the birth rather than an expression that captures both elements rather than just the Rcog guidance.

‘It is a matter of concern that the home delivery kit does not include a pulse oximeter for maternal heart rate.’

Mr Walker told the court it was likely Ms Lomas’s heart rate was believed to be Poppy’s when checks were being carried out just before the birth.

After the inquest concluded, Ms Lomas read a statement to reporters outside the court, saying: ‘Today’s finding confirmed what we have lived every single day since losing our precious daughter Poppy.

‘We came here for the truth because Poppy’s life mattered and because she deserves to be remembered for more than the circumstances of her death.

‘Nothing will ever bring her back but hearing the truth today acknowledged means everything to us.

‘We trusted the professionals who were guiding us and Poppy should have had the safest possible start in her life.

‘Our hope is that by hearing Poppy’s story lessons will be learned and changes will be made so that no other family has to endure the pain that we will carry for the rest of our lives.’

She added: ‘Poppy was our daughter, she was loved beyond words and she will never be forgotten.’

A spokesperson from the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust said: ‘Our heartfelt condolences remain with Poppy Lomas’s family at this incredibly difficult time and we are profoundly sorry for their loss.

‘Following an investigation, we have introduced a number of measures to improve care for women delivering their baby at home.

‘This includes ensuring midwifery teams are aware of the guidance around transferring mothers to hospital and improving communication between clinicians and women.

‘We will carefully review all the matters raised by the coroner and will respond to him in due course.’

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