Parents whose “miracle” baby died in hospital claim under-staffing caused the death of their tiny son.
Karolina Curry gave birth to Cassian at 28 weeks in the Jessop Wing of Sheffield Teaching Hospital in April 2021.
As it was a bank holiday, Karolina and her husband James told an inquest the birth was “chaotic” and the mum was left screaming for help when no one checked on her.
Cassian was rushed to the neonatal ICU ward within minutes of his birth for specialist treatment.
But the court heard bungling doctors mistakenly inserted an umbilical venous catheter into his liver before it was signed off.
Their son died less than 48 hours later and the parents allege under staffing and the incorrectly fitted feeding tube may have contributed towards his death, Yorkshire Live reported.
The inquest was held two weeks after the Jessop Wing at Sheffield Teaching Hospital was given an inadequate rating by the CQC, which has ordered the Trust to make a number of improvements.
Karolina said in a witness statement read to the court: “Cassian died in the early hours of the Bank Holiday Monday. We can't get our heads around this - how giving birth on a Bank Holiday means your baby dies.
“I kept ringing my bedside buzzer, but at one point I waited 25 minutes for someone to come.
"I was screaming. No one checked to see if I was dilated, but when they pulled back the sheets I was fully dilated."
Cassian, who weighed just 750 grams when he was born, arrived after several previous rounds of IVF for the couple either failed or resulted in miscarriage.
At 1am on April 5, 2021 - less than 48 hours after Cassian was born - Karolina said she was told to go to the ICU "immediately" to see her son.
She said: "When I got onto the ward I saw a lot of people around his incubator.
"There was no heart rate showing on the monitor and his machine was beeping loudly. That's how I found out my son was dying. I tried to scream but nothing came out.
"I was shaking and crying. They put my dead son in my arms. No one told me they were going to do that. James arrived a few minutes later and found our dead son in my arms. No one told us anything. We didn't know what had happened.
“It distresses me that Cassian was in so much pain.”
The family said there were “serious” staffing issues on the ward.
Karolina added: “It cost Cassian his life and it cost us our son.”
The inquest continues.
