A Nottingham mum whose baby died shortly after being born 27 years ago says the pain has never left her. Samantha Pannell, who lives in Bakersfield, gave birth to her daughter Shade at Queen's Medical Centre on May 15, 1995 - but the she only lived for five hours.
"Once a woman loses a child it never leaves them, the pain never leaves you," the 49-year-old cleaning supervisor told Nottinghamshire Live. "After she died I had a nervous breakdown, I had severe depression and I went down to a weight of about six stone. It was horrendous."
Ms Pannell, who was seven months pregnant, believes Shade could have been saved and claims staff did not believe her when she said she was going into labour.
Read more: Grieving mum had 2 funerals after 'perfect baby girl' died at Nottingham hospital
A review into Queen's Medical Centre City Hospital's maternity units is currently underway following dozens of baby deaths. Ms Pannell said the inquiry, which is being led by expert midwife Donna Ockenden, should go as far back as possible to cover cases such as hers.
"I feel like we are forgotten, like the children are forgotten," she said. "It's like their lives weren't worth anything. I would like to see the review go quite far back."
The review team said it was unlikely to go as far back as 1995 due to the fact Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) the trust that now runs the hospitals, was not formed until 2006. Retelling her story, Ms Pannell, who now has two sons and one daughter aged between 19 and 28, says she rang the hospital and told them she was going into an early labour.
After arriving at QMC she says staff did not believe her and made her wait for a scan. It was not until she said she needed to push that they eventually helped her, Ms Pannell claims.
She gave birth to her baby girl Shayde, who weighed around two pounds, but she tragically died five hours later. Doctors told her that the baby had septicaemia.
"It most definitely could have been very different if they'd believed me or given me a blood test," said Ms Pannell. "I'd have a 27-year-old daughter now and probably grandchildren."
Sharon Wallis, Director of Midwifery at Nottingham University Hospitals Trust, said: “We would like to offer our condolences to Samantha for the sad loss of her daughter. We encourage Samantha to share her feedback or concerns by contacting our Patient Advice and Liaison Service or via the Independent Review team, which is being led by Donna Ockenden.”
A spokeswoman for the Nottingham Maternity Review said: "Currently, we are still working out the precise start dates of the review but it is unlikely to go back as far as 1995. This is mainly because the trust was formed (from the linking together of Queens and City hospitals) in 2006.
"We would still encourage any families that have concerns to contact us on the email nottsreview@donnaockenden.com as we would like to be able to see if there is anything we might be able to do to help them."
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