Couple launch legal action over hospital failings after 'baby's heart stopped for 19 minutes'

Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust (SaTH) has admitted failings that led to baby Ronnie Jones being born with brain damage so severe that doctors initially feared he would not survive.

The youngster's heart stopped for 19 minutes following a traumatic birth at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford.

Born at 30 weeks with severe cerebral palsy and other medical conditions, he defied the odds to survive for 15 months before his death on November 1, 2021.

The trust has now admitted that Ronnie would have been born in “significantly better condition” and would not likely have died when he did if he had been delivered earlier.

Parents Alice and Lewis Jones, from Aberhafesp, near Newtown, are now pursuing legal action against the hospital trust through legal firm Osbornes Law.

The couple are also seeking to overturn a Supreme Court ruling that says while Ronnie's mum can claim compensation for having witnessed her son die, his father is ineligible.

The couple first went to the hospital in July 25, 2020, the day before Ronnie was born, worried he wasn’t moving enough, but were told a cardiotocography (CTG) trace – used to monitor baby’s heartbeat – showed no cause for concern.

It was only when Alice returned the following day, still convinced something wasn’t right, that a midwife repeated the trace and noticed a problem.

Alice, 31, said: “It was at that point that I was told I would have to have a caesarean section, but I was repeatedly told to stay calm and that I would soon have my baby in my arms. I had no idea how ill Ronnie was and how much worse he was becoming with each passing minute.

“They were initially waiting as someone else was in surgery, but eventually decided to use the emergency theatre. I was put under and when I woke up, I was in an empty room. I started screaming ‘where’s my baby?’

“I was sick from the anaesthetic so I wasn’t allowed to go to him and we were just told he was poorly, that was painful enough. We didn’t realise the true extent of it until later when we were offered the option of a ‘do not resuscitate’ order, which was just unthinkable.”

Ronnie was born at 8.35pm on July 26 – almost 24 hours after his parents had first gone to the hospital for help. It later transpired that he had been suffering from anaemia, which had affected his growth.

The abnormalities on the second CTG trace had also been present on the first but were not picked up by doctors. Had the couple waited until July 27 when they had been offered an ultrasound to put their minds at rest, it is unlikely he would have survived.

Ronnie’s birth fell just after the period examined in the Ockenden review, an independent inquiry into maternity care at SaTH which found that 201 babies and nine mothers could have survived had they received better care.

Alice, who is also mum to Dougie, two, and Mina, one, said: “Ronnie was my first child and I had planned to have a home birth, with the hospital as backup in case anything went wrong. We were given the choice of either Telford or Wrexham, but we had heard the latter was rife with Covid at that time.

“We knew about the Ockenden review, but everything at Telford was new and so I think we just assumed that lessons had been learned, the same thing wouldn’t happen to us.”

Soon after birth, Ronnie was transferred to Wolverhampton’s New Cross Hospital where he remained for two months before moving back to the Princess Royal until his discharge home on 21 October.

Alice, on maternity leave from her job as a customs broker, and Lewis, furloughed from his work as a chef, undertook specialist training in order to be able to look after their son who suffered from multiple conditions including muscle spasms, seizures, chronic lung disease and an inability to swallow which meant he had to be fed through a tube.

Lewis, 30, said: “Ronnie needed round-the-clock care, but there was never any question about who would provide that. We were his parents and we wanted to do everything we possibly could for our son.

“We had a sats machine to check his oxygen levels, a suction machine to clear his chest, and we learned how to administer all the various medications and food via his tube.

“We also learned how to do all the physio and he was doing so well, holding his head and reaching out for things. He constantly surpassed the doctors’ expectations. He was beautiful, everyone who met him would fall in love.”

Ronnie was just over 15 months old when he contracted pneumonia which proved too much for his body to handle and he died on November 1 of 2021.

In the years since his death, Alice and Lewis have organised an annual fun day, raising in excess of £20,000 for nearby Hope House Children’s Hospice.

They are also now campaigning to reverse a recent ruling by the Supreme Court which found that “secondary victims” – including fathers – are no longer eligible to bring claims for psychiatric injury arising out of most incidences of medical negligence, if they have witnessed the injury or death of a loved one.

Lewis, who has been unable to return to work since losing Ronnie and has been diagnosed with severe depression, said: “I just feel like I don’t matter at all.

“I watched Ronnie pass away in front of me. I can’t just pick myself up and carry on as before, but someone somewhere in a room has decided that’s exactly what I should be doing - that I don’t deserve to be compensated for any loss of earnings, even though none of this was our fault.”

Jodi Newton, a clinical negligence specialist at Osbornes Law who is representing the family, said: “Alice and Lewis both witnessed their son’s significant suffering and death and to recognise the impact that has had on one but not the other is deeply unfair.

“They have shown immense courage in sharing their story to highlight this injustice and also hope to effect real change at a trust that has failed so many families for so long.

“This case shows that the mistakes highlighted by Donna Ockenden in her review were still being repeated as recently as 2020, which raises serious questions about how much the trust has actually done to change and how much more needs to do more before any further lives are needlessly lost.”

Dr John Jones, medical director at SaTH, said: “We offer our sincere condolences to the family over the loss of their son, Ronnie. We recognise there were failings in the care we provided and we are truly sorry.

“We are unable to comment further as this is an ongoing legal case.”

Alice and Lewis Jones have started a petition calling for the Supreme Court to reverse its ruling and give equal rights to parents who have witnessed the death of a child, which can be accessed at change.org/p/fathers-to-have-equal-rights-as-mothers-when-witnessing-the-death-injury-of-a-child.