Midwife denies committing error over death of Pinoy mom in UK
The midwife who was on duty when a potent anesthetic was wrongfully administered to a Filipino mother in Britain denied committing the fatal medical error, but admitted being unsure about the events that led to the incident.
According to a report from UK newspaper The Guardian on Tuesday, Marie To was caring for Mayra Cabrera, a Filipino theater nurse, at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, Wilshire, Britain in 2004.
Mayra, 30, died shortly after giving birth to Zachary on May 11 of that year after an epidural, a local anesthetic administered into the lower spine to relieve labor pains, was wrongly injected into her arm during childbirth.
"Not 100%," To replied when asked by Wiltshire coroner David Masters in the inquest proceedings if she was sure about what she did at that time.
She claimed that following the delivery at 8:14 a.m., Dr. Gourab Mistra instructed her to put some saline solution up in a drip should Mayra’s blood pressure fall.
Meanwhile, To instead suggested using gelafusin, a blood volume expander to boost blood pressure, to which Mistra agreed.
However, the midwife was unable to let Misra double check on the bag of fluid, as required, since the doctor was out of the room when she administered gelafusin on the patient.
It was later discovered that a bag of Bupivacaine fluid had been wrongly administered via a drip into Cabrera's hand.
By 9 a.m., Mayra began to feel dizzy. She started to fit and frothed at the mouth before having a heart attack.
Efforts to resuscitate her failed and she was pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m. The cause of death was found to be Bupivacaine toxicity.
No knowledge
When police questioned the midwife after the incident, she said she did not inject the drug to Mayra.
"To my knowledge and belief I did not administer this drug," she said in her statement to the police.
She also said she did not know who administered the drug, when Masters interrogated her.
Lawyer Gerwyn Samuel, representing Mayra’s husband Arnel, also asked To if she erroneously administered a bag of Bupivacaine on an intravenous drip.
"[This is] a serious dereliction of duty," Samuel said.
Masters reminded To that according to law, she was not compelled to answer self-incriminating questions.
But To replied: "I did not put up Bupivacaine knowingly. I put up a bag of what I
thought was gelafusin."
She also said that while she wanted Misra to verify the bag, the doctor was “too quick" for her and squeezed it to get the fluid moving to Mayra’s bloodstream.
"We know that the doctor squeezed that bag of Bupivacaine and we know that that was the bag you put up," asserted Samuel.
To said she read the bag and was convinced “it said gelafusin."
Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which partly controls the Great Western Hospital, has admitted liability for the error, said the report.
It also said that the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge anyone.
Husband faces deportation
Meanwhile, Arnel, 38, is appealing to the Home Office in Britain to allow him to stay in England and raise his now three-year-old son, Zachary.
Arnel is given until the end of February to return to the Philippines, upon completion of the inquest proceedings on the case, as his visa was only dependent on his wife who was working in UK.
He was also working as a technician in the Great Western hospital.
"The person who gave Mayra that drug robbed me of my family. I want to know how it happened. I can't forget. I need to know whether the action was intentional or unintentional. How can anyone make this kind of error and not be made to answer for it? I was very angry I'd been lied to for so long about how my wife died," Arnel said in the January 7 inquest.
The couple went to the hospital before 4 a.m. on May 2004. At 8:14 a.m, their healthy 8-pound baby was delivered with forceps.
The Guardian said the hearing will continue today (January 22). - Mark Ubalde, GMANews.TV
According to a report from UK newspaper The Guardian on Tuesday, Marie To was caring for Mayra Cabrera, a Filipino theater nurse, at the Great Western Hospital in Swindon, Wilshire, Britain in 2004.
Mayra, 30, died shortly after giving birth to Zachary on May 11 of that year after an epidural, a local anesthetic administered into the lower spine to relieve labor pains, was wrongly injected into her arm during childbirth.
"Not 100%," To replied when asked by Wiltshire coroner David Masters in the inquest proceedings if she was sure about what she did at that time.
She claimed that following the delivery at 8:14 a.m., Dr. Gourab Mistra instructed her to put some saline solution up in a drip should Mayra’s blood pressure fall.
Meanwhile, To instead suggested using gelafusin, a blood volume expander to boost blood pressure, to which Mistra agreed.
However, the midwife was unable to let Misra double check on the bag of fluid, as required, since the doctor was out of the room when she administered gelafusin on the patient.
It was later discovered that a bag of Bupivacaine fluid had been wrongly administered via a drip into Cabrera's hand.
By 9 a.m., Mayra began to feel dizzy. She started to fit and frothed at the mouth before having a heart attack.
Efforts to resuscitate her failed and she was pronounced dead at 10:47 a.m. The cause of death was found to be Bupivacaine toxicity.
No knowledge
When police questioned the midwife after the incident, she said she did not inject the drug to Mayra.
"To my knowledge and belief I did not administer this drug," she said in her statement to the police.
She also said she did not know who administered the drug, when Masters interrogated her.
Lawyer Gerwyn Samuel, representing Mayra’s husband Arnel, also asked To if she erroneously administered a bag of Bupivacaine on an intravenous drip.
"[This is] a serious dereliction of duty," Samuel said.
Masters reminded To that according to law, she was not compelled to answer self-incriminating questions.
But To replied: "I did not put up Bupivacaine knowingly. I put up a bag of what I
thought was gelafusin."
She also said that while she wanted Misra to verify the bag, the doctor was “too quick" for her and squeezed it to get the fluid moving to Mayra’s bloodstream.
"We know that the doctor squeezed that bag of Bupivacaine and we know that that was the bag you put up," asserted Samuel.
To said she read the bag and was convinced “it said gelafusin."
Swindon and Marlborough NHS Trust, which partly controls the Great Western Hospital, has admitted liability for the error, said the report.
It also said that the Crown Prosecution Service decided not to charge anyone.
Husband faces deportation
Meanwhile, Arnel, 38, is appealing to the Home Office in Britain to allow him to stay in England and raise his now three-year-old son, Zachary.
Arnel is given until the end of February to return to the Philippines, upon completion of the inquest proceedings on the case, as his visa was only dependent on his wife who was working in UK.
He was also working as a technician in the Great Western hospital.
"The person who gave Mayra that drug robbed me of my family. I want to know how it happened. I can't forget. I need to know whether the action was intentional or unintentional. How can anyone make this kind of error and not be made to answer for it? I was very angry I'd been lied to for so long about how my wife died," Arnel said in the January 7 inquest.
The couple went to the hospital before 4 a.m. on May 2004. At 8:14 a.m, their healthy 8-pound baby was delivered with forceps.
The Guardian said the hearing will continue today (January 22). - Mark Ubalde, GMANews.TV
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