Death of three-day-old baby after c-section "preventable" inquest hears
Emmy was born in the Princess Alexandra hospital, Essex, and died three days later on 12 January 2024 at Addenbrookes’ Hospital, CambridgeLeigh Day Press Office
An inquest into the death of three-day-old Emmy Russo, who was born in the Princess Alexandra hospital on 9 January 2024 from emergency c-section, has heard that her death was "preventable".
HM Assistant Coroner Thea Wilson told the Inquest she's heard a “number of occasions of evidence" where Bryony Russo's voice wasn’t fully heard, she requested a c-section and essentially was “laughed off”.
She told the hearing there were multiple "missed opportunities" to offer Bryony a c-section which ultimately "would have saved Emmy's life".
Emmy died aged three days in her father's arms on 12 January 2024 at Addenbrookes’ Hospital, Cambridge, the Inquest heard.
Coroner Thea Wilson concluded Emmy died "as a result of acute hypoxic brain injury, sustained shortly before birth."
Mrs Russo had been classified as low-risk during pregnancy but repeatedly told staff she thought something was wrong.
Daniel and Bryony Russo told the inquest there had been "so many warning signs" about their daughter's condition and her death had been "so avoidable and so preventable".
"If an earlier decision had been made to give Bryony a c-section, Emmy would have been born in better condition, probably spent sometime in the neonatal unit, but on balance of probabilities she would have survived” HM Thea Wilson concluded.
The family's lawyer from Leigh Day Solicitors, said in the last day of the Inquest on 7 May 2025: 'We think there's been “gross failures”. Bryony needed help and guidance in labour. Basic checks were not made and basic escalations did not occur."
Emily Day, a midwife at Princess Alexandra Hospital who was involved with the couple's care for about four hours, also spoke at the inquest.
She explained how an abdominal CTG (cardiotocography) belt was placed on Mrs Russo's stomach to constantly monitor the baby's heart rate and movements.
When asked by Thea Wilson whether anything had changed for her as a result of Emmy's death, Ms Day replied: "I've taken quite a few things from this case, I'd say I think about it every single day.
Philippa Greenfield, Consultant obstetrician and Divisional Director for Child Health and Women's Services at Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust, said to the Inquest on 7 May:
"As a consequence of this inquest, we’ve had conversations on what needs to be done to support teams to deliver the right information at the right time."
"We've also launched the national Five Times More campaign, empowering service users to be able to advocate for themselves and in parallel, recognition from staff as being enablers to that empowerment as well."
"As a consequence of Bryony’s experience, there appears to be a gap in the women that might make a request late on in their pregnancy journey including during induction process, or during labour itself.
"We’re aiming to put a process in place for when requests are made at that stage for c-section, to facilitate those discussions, in the same way we do earlier on in the pregnancy journey."
When contacted for comment, Sharon McNally, chief nurse and deputy chief executive at The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust (PAHT), said: “We offer our deepest condolences to baby Emmy’s family on their sad loss.
“We recognise the Coroner’s findings and we sincerely apologise to baby Emmy’s family.
“The safety of women, babies and families when receiving maternity care is our absolute priority and we ensure that learning from any incident is part of our focus on continuous improvement.”
The inquest was part-heard over three days in March, and resumed 6-7 May 2025.
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