The boy, called Jack, died shortly after being born in the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in January 2014. Another baby died on the same ward two years earlier.
The deaths triggered a fitness-to-practise hearing by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, which resulted in midwives Lisa Granville and Tuija Roussel being struck off after being found guilty of a series of errors. Another midwife, Antonia Manousaki, received a 12-month supervision order.
The panel heard that the babies’ heartbeats were not properly monitored and there was improper use of the drug Syntocinon, which can speed up labour but increases the baby’s heartbeat. The hearing was told that consultants were not called before either woman was given Syntocinon.
And the panel found that Jack’s death ‘may have been prevented’ if Ms Granville had carried out a proper investigation into standards of midwifery in the first case.
In a statement released this week, his family said: ‘We have campaigned, behind the scenes, for truth and justice for our beautiful son, Jack, for nearly four years.
‘We have encountered resistance, every step of the way, from the same institutions that were charged with our son’s protection.
‘But for the actions of one brave whistle-blower at the PEH, none of the subsequent reports and investigations would have been commissioned and the facts surrounding our son’s death may have remained covered up forever.
‘We have learned from those reports and investigations into our son’s care that his death was caused by a litany of harrowing failures in midwifery, obstetric and paediatric care by the midwives at the PEH, and by members of the Medical Specialist Group, as well as by institutional failings in clinical care, management and governance which were the responsibility of a culture perpetuated by the then Health and Social Services Department and now referred to as the “Guernsey way”.’
