Parents whose baby died at five days old suing NHS

Kimberley Newark and Yann Trupiano with their newborn baby, Olivia. Both parents are kissing Olivia's head, and Olivia, who has an oxygen tube, is laying on Kimberley's chest. Olivia has dark hair.

The parents of a baby who died when she was five days old are launching a civil claim against the NHS trust which runs the hospital where she died.

Olivia Trupiano was born by emergency caesarean section at 34 weeks on 14 September 2024 at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath, West Sussex.

An inquest this month concluded that no aspects of Olivia's care by the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Trust could be considered likely to have caused her death, but parents Kimberley Newark and Yann Trupiano said they remain determined to get answers.

Newark, from Brighton, said: "It's sort of, I feel, the only thing that I can really do for Olivia as her mother."

Kimberley Newark and Yann Trupiano. Kimberly, who has long dark hair, is wearing a checked shirt. Yann, who has dark hair and a greying beard, is wearing a blue t-shirt. Both are sat together on the sofa.

Before her daughter was born, Newark went to hospital in what she described as "excruciating pain" which she was told was "trapped wind".

It transpired that she was bleeding internally, and Olivia was born with severe hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy, which occurs when the brain does not receive enough oxygen or blood flow at around the time of birth.

Both mother and baby were transferred to the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton but Olivia passed away on 19 September.

During the inquest it was established that her condition was caused by Newark suffering a rare two stage spontaneous rupture of her splenic artery at 34 weeks gestation.

However, Newark's condition, which resulted in her being placed into a coma, did not present typically, the coroner found.

"I went through being in a coma and waking up knowing that my baby wasn't going to make it," Newark said.

This has shaped her "memories and experience" of Olivia, she said.

"The only true memories that I will ever take with me is the moments I would feel her move at night."

Olivia Trupiano shortly after her birth. She has a number of wires surrounding her body, and is sleeping with a stuffed toy. She has a feeding tube in her nose. Olivia has dark hair.

Ayesha Hussain, from law firm Slater and Gordon which is representing the family, said they are looking at any potential errors or missed "opportunities" which "would have changed the outcome for baby Olivia".

Newark added: "I think, in a lot of cases, our cases are looked at as cases, statistics, numbers, but it's important to identify that we are real families, we are real people."

A spokesperson for the trust said: "We would like to again extend our sincere condolences to Olivia's family for their tragic loss.

"We note the Coroner's narrative conclusion and are also sorry that the inquest did not provide all the answers the family had hoped for. We remain very willing to meet with them again to help in any way we can."

In April, senior midwife Donna Ockenden was appointed to lead an independent review into maternity services at the trust, which also runs departments at Worthing Hospital and St Richard's Hospital in Chichester.

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