A mother whose baby died due to hospital failings before spending her compensation payout on IVF has revealed how the ordeal left her ‘with nothing’.
Pippa Davies, 49, of Cardiff, received £150,000 and an apology from Cardiff and Vale University Health Board over the breach of care to her baby Seren, who died from hypoxia in 2014.
She went on to spend the sum on IVF but suffered the double heartbreak of the cycles failing – with her last attempt set for May, when she reaches her clinic’s cut-off age.
Retelling her heartbreaking experience to MailOnline, Ms Davies told of how it was ‘a miracle’ to conceive naturally after years of struggling with endometriosis.
The condition sees cells like those in the womb grow in other parts of the body – which can cause difficulties getting pregnant.
It made it all the more devastating when Seren died of hypoxia at a routine check-up – just a week before Ms Davies’s scheduled C-section.
Scans showed something was ‘not right’ with Seren, she said, when they first came in – but by the time doctors chose to deliver nearly 24 hours later, it was too late.
Just the next day, Ms Davies and her partner had to make the terrible decision to turn off Seren’s life support: ‘I just feel empty. They’ve left me with nothing.’
A mother whose baby (pictured) died due to hospital failings before spending her compensation payout on IVF has revealed how the ordeal left her ‘with nothing’.
Pippa Davies (left), 49, of Cardiff, received £150,000 and an apology from Cardiff and Vale University Health Board over the breach of care to her baby Seren (pictured), who died from hypoxia in 2014
Retelling her heartbreaking experience to MailOnline, Ms Davies (pictured) told of how it was ‘a miracle’ to conceive naturally after years of struggling with endometriosis
Of her delight when she fell pregnant with Seren, after years of struggling, Ms Davies said: ‘I just wanted to love her and see the world through her eyes, really…
‘That’s all I want to be is a mum. I don’t want to be anything else. You can’t really describe the yearning to people.’
But when she went to hospital for a regular check-up one afternoon, before her C-section the next week, scans showed something was ‘not right’.
Ms Davies said: ‘I felt the pain in my stomach in the night.
‘I could see all her sort of twisting and I was trying to tell the nurses, I was saying, “She’s not right and I don’t feel right”.’
But medics did not deliver straight away, she said: ‘The doctors just sort of said, “No leave it until tomorrow”. And they knew she was in distress and left it just too long.’
When they did eventually deliver her nearly 24 hours later, Seren – who had Down’s syndrome – had suffered hypoxia from lack of oxygen.
Ms Davies’s daughter then spent one day in neonatal intensive care – after which they had to make the incredibly difficult decision to turn off her life support.
Of her delight when she fell pregnant with Seren (pictured), after years of struggling, Ms Davies said: ‘I just wanted to love her and see the world through her eyes, really…
She said: ‘I held her through a little incubator. And that was that. And the next thing, I’m just being wheeled out of the hospital with nothing, with no baby in my arms.’
The mother had come in for her check-up at 2pm and waited overnight on the labour ward.
A nurse thought something was not right at 8am the next day – but it was not until midday that Seren was delivered.
Ms Davies said: ‘I remember the flashbacks of all of them eating pizza around the nurses’ station while I’m up there in a room for my baby being in distress and they didn’t seem at all bothered.’
She added: ‘I’ve got nothing else to love or mother or nurture. I just feel empty. They’ve left me with nothing.’
She and her partner subsequently went through several IVF cycles, which did not work.
About three years ago, she had a breakdown, experiencing constant flashbacks, nightmares and thoughts of self-harm. She was later diagnosed with PTSD.
She said: ‘I had so much anger towards the hospital, I didn’t really know where to put it…’
She said: ‘That’s all I want to be is a mum. I don’t want to be anything else. You can’t really describe the yearning to people’
‘It’s rage at myself and it’s rage at them because I feel guilty for not pushing it more. But there was nothing more I could do.’
She added: ‘They almost feel like an enemy and it shouldn’t be like that, should it?’
And she is now confronting the terrifying prospect of her last chance at IVF – she reaches what her IVF clinic have told her is the cut-off age in May.
She has to use a donor egg now too – her C-section left her with lots of scar tissue on her ovaries and unable to use her own eggs: ‘They took that away from me as well.’
But the stakes feel high if this goes wrong: ‘That’ll be it then. I won’t have any living children at all which has been through a mistake.’
The entire situation has put an enormous strain on her relationship too as she and her partner have since split up.
The NHS admitted breach of care – she was sent a letter of apology and paid £150,000 in compensation, which she has since spent on IVF and psychotherapy for herself. It is hypoxia that is on Seren’s death certificate.
She said: ‘People think, “Oh, well, she got compensation”. But if people think of compensation as like a lottery win or something, it’s not. I didn’t actually realise until I had it that you actually need it.
‘Because I needed it for therapy. There’s no way I could have afforded the amount of therapy that I needed.’
It has always been her ‘dream’ to be a mother, she said: ‘I just feel like they’ve robbed me of everything, really, my future.’
A spokesperson for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board said: ‘Our condolences and deepest sympathy remain with Ms Davies and her family.
‘While we cannot comment on individual patient cases, the Health Board has sincerely apologised to Ms Davies for the failings in her care and the claim was settled in 2021.’