Baby died after medics failed to check on sleeping mother

Baby died after medics failed to check on sleeping mother

Telegraph reporters

Mon, January 26, 2026 at 1:18 PM UTC

3 min read

Add Yahoo as a preferred source to see more of our stories on Google.

A baby died at three days old after NHS medics failed to wake his mother for observations while pregnant.

Sonny Taylor suffered catastrophic brain damage as a result of being starved of oxygen having been left “distressed for a significant amount of time”.

Midwifery staff had left his mother Eve, 29, sleeping instead of waking her for observations and to listen to Sonny’s heart, an internal NHS investigation report found.

The baby was then delivered in a “poor condition” via caesarean section at Ysbyty Gwynedd Hospital in Bangor, Wales. He died at three days old on Oct 3 2022 as a result of sepsis and a brain injury from oxygen starvation.

His parents have won an undisclosed settlement after suing the local health board. Speaking for the first time about her son’s death, Eve said: “When I went into hospital, I never could have imagined what was to follow.

“What followed was frantic, chaotic and terrifying. I went to sleep at my emergency C-section not knowing if I would wake up or whether my baby would make it.”

Mother sent to wrong ward

Eve was admitted to Ysbyty Gwynedd Hospital on Sept 29, 2022 after her waters broke at 36 weeks pregnant.

Sonny’s heart rate was initially diagnosed as normal, but later that afternoon signs of potential infection were identified.

At 6pm Eve’s observations and Sonny’s heart rate and movements were classed as normal. At 10pm, as Eve was asleep, observations and monitoring were not carried out.

She awoke at 1.30am on Sept 30 concerned about Sonny’s reduced movement, and a registrar was called. The registrar established that Sonny had an abnormal heart rate.

Eve was wrongly transferred to the labour ward instead of being taken for delivery, arriving at 1.43am. A call for an emergency caesarean was made. There was then a 15-minute delay to Sonny’s birth, who was delivered at 2.03am.

Sonny was moved from a neonatal intensive care unit to palliative care, with the permission of Eve and her partner Thomas.

NHS apologises for ‘failings’

Thomas said that his son was “badly let down when he needed help the most”.

His parents won the undisclosed settlement following legal action against the Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board. Through NHS Wales, the board apologised for the “failings identified” within the investigation report.

The report found a midwife should have woken Eve and performed observations and listened to Sonny’s heart rate at 10pm.

Sara Burns, a medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, representing Eve, said: “While we’re pleased to have secured this settlement and appreciate the health board’s co-operation in resolving the case promptly, no amount of compensation can ever begin to make up for what the family has been through.”

Carol Shillabeer, the chief executive of Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, said: “We would like to offer our sincere sympathies to the family of baby Sonny, who sadly died in 2022.

“We are deeply sorry for their loss and for the failures in care that occurred. We recognise the profound impact this has had on Sonny’s family, and we apologise unreservedly for the distress caused.”

About Our Ads

Source