The parents of a newborn who died 27 minutes after birth say they have got justice for him – despite the hospital trust responsible trying to claim he was in fact stillborn. Rachel Higgs and Andrew Batten, from Broadstairs in Kent, attended the conclusion of the inquest into son Archie’s death.
They are being represented by Fairweather Solicitors, which is acting for 18 families who have suffered stillbirths, neonatal deaths or other injuries at the Queen Elizabeth Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate or other hospitals operated by the trust. They also represented the family of Harry Richford, whose death in 2017 following his birth at the QEQM led to East Kent Hospitals being fined £733,000 for its failures.
Following the conclusion of the inquest, Ms Higgs and Mr Batten shared a statement through their solicitors: “Listening to all the evidence in the case has been hard. It seems incredible to us that so many basic mistakes were made by so many people on the day of Archie’s birth and death.
“We do feel we have got justice for Archie today and thank the coroner for her expertise and the thoroughness of her investigation. We also thank our legal team, who representing us free of charge at the inquest, without which we would not, on our own, have been able to stand up to the Trust’s expensive lawyers and ensure that Archie’s case was properly considered.
“Archie would be two-and-a-half years old now. We think about him and miss him every day and always will.
“Nothing can bring him back to us. We can only hope true lessons will be learned from his case and lasting changes made to ensure other families do not suffer such tragedies in the future.”
Nick Fairweather, the family’s solicitor – who represented them at the inquest pro bono, together with barrister Richard Baker, commented: “The family had to wait over two-and-a-half years for the inquest and are appalled at how they have been treated by the Trust and their legal representatives.
"This was exemplified by the Trust attempting to persuade the coroner not to hear the case on the basis that Archie was stillborn, waiting until just before the hearing before making that application.
“While this application was given short shrift it added enormously to the family’s distress and anxiety and indeed their distrust of this Trust. Any renewed apologies for what happened cannot now be accepted.
“The systemic failings of the Trust have a depressingly familiar ring to them seen across our case load of QEQM cases.
“It is important that the coroner has recognised, however, that even when operating in a dysfunctional department and in a sub optimal clinical setting it was still the professional responsibility of the individual midwives to provide a due and proper level of care to Archie and Rachel.
“This they manifestly failed to do.”
The coroner concluded that the Trust had learned “a great many lessons” since Archie’s death and did not issue any Section 28 regulations against it.
