A MOTHER said she cannot forgive the doctor who accidentally decapitated her baby during a bungled delivery at a Dundee maternity unit as the pair came face to face at a tribunal.
The fitness to practice hearing was told how the infant's head detached from the rest of its body and had to be surgically removed from the mother's womb after Dr Vaishnavy Laxman, an obstetrician at Ninewells Hospital, pressed ahead with a vaginal delivery despite a number of medical complications.
Read more: Blundering Tayside medic 'sliced baby's neck with scissors' in botched delivery
The tribunal heard that the baby boy's head was subsequently extracted by caesarean section from the 30-year-old mother's cervix and "re-attached" to his body so that she could hold him.
The woman, who was in her first pregnancy, has not been named but is understood to be suing NHS Tayside for medical negligence.
The Crown Office previously ruled out any criminal proceedings or a Fatal Accident Inquiry in relation to the case, which occurred on Sunday March 16 2014.
Dr Laxman, 41, who qualified in India, is currently banned from private practice or working without supervision in any obstetrics post, including all types of delivery.
Conditions placed on her registration mean she is only allowed to work unsupervised in NHS gynaecology on pregnancies up to 16 weeks.
The Medical Practitioners Tribunal, which is being heard in Manchester, could result in her being struck off.
Giving evidence at the tribunal, the mother told Dr Laxman - who stared at the floor - “I don’t forgive you”. The patient then looked away as Dr Laxman's QC apologised on her behalf.
The tribunal was told that Dr Laxman should have delivered the baby by caesarean section because the he was in a breech position, had an abnormally low heart rate and was at risk of becoming tangled in the umbilical cord.
The mother's waters had broken early at 25 weeks and her cervix was only 2-3cm (around one inch) dilated.
Dr Laxman allegedly ignored warnings from colleagues that the infant's neck was being stretched and the tragedy is said to have struck when the doctor urged the patient to push while she simultaneously pulled the baby's legs.
The manoeuvre caused the infant's legs, arms and torso to become detached, leaving the head still in his mother's womb.
Read more: Tayside set to be first region in world to eliminate Hep C virus
Giving evidence, the mother - known only as Patient A - said: ''I had been for a scan the previous Friday and I was told my son was breech and the nurse told me if anything had happened to my son it was going to be a c-section.
''But when I was taken to the labour suite nobody told me what was happening...Nobody said I was not having a c-section and doing something else instead. Whilst this was going on I was in pain.
''The only pain relief I was given was a spray on my tongue."
The mother said she repeatedly tried to get off the bed and told medics trying to cut into her cervix to stop, but was ignored and not given anaesthesia.
She said she was told by a nurse that her son had "passed away", but was not given the full details about what had happened.
She said: “I would never use the word stillborn, he was not stillborn he was decapitated.
"I was pregnant, my first pregnancy, I wasn’t sure what was going on and I was told it was the safest place possible.
"Nobody explained the plan or risks associated. It was like disorganised chaos and I was scared.''
Dr Laxman denies contributing to the death of the baby.
Addressing the mother during the tribunal, her lawyer Gerard Boyle QC said: “[Dr Laxman] did not intend to harm you or harm your baby and she offers her apologies in every possible way.
"She hopes at some point in time that will make you feel in a way, slightly better.''
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel