7BR’s James Macdonald represented Finn’s family at the Inquest, instructed by Bethany Kyle, Solicitor in the Medical Negligence team at Ashtons Legal.

Finn Kennedy was born at the Oasis Birth Centre, in the Princess Royal University Hospital on 23 June 2021. He was the first child of Ruth and Martin Kennedy and sadly died on 1 July 2021 at eight days of age.

At the inquest touching Finn’s death, held at Southwark Coroner’s Court, Senior Coroner Dr Julian Morris found that repeated failures at the Birth Centre to properly monitor Finn’s heart rate during the second stage of labour, as well as a lack of clear leadership, contributed to the tragic death.

The Senior Coroner heard evidence of a Birth Centre staffed by community and bank midwives on the night of Finn’s birth, with no clear indication of who was in charge.

Changes in policy at the Oasis Birth Centre since Finn’s death mean that the Birth Centre must now close when there are no permanent staff members available to attend. However, the Senior Coroner expressed his concern that this did not prevent other Birth Centres across London continuing to operate in the same way as the Oasis Birth Centre did at the time of Finn’s birth.

The Senior Coroner was sufficiently concerned by the evidence he had heard to take the exceptional course of writing a letter pursuant to paragraph 37 of The Chief Coroner’s Guidance No. 5 – Reports to Prevent Future Deaths, addressed to the London Maternity and Neonatal System.

The Coroner’s findings were released just days before the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Birth Trauma’s report, ‘Listen to Mums: Ending the Postcode Lottery on Perinatal Care,’ was published on 13 May 2024. The report highlights a pattern of poor maternity care across the country, including numerous examples of birth trauma caused by mistakes and failures made during labour, like in Finn’s case. The report can be accessed here: https://lnkd.in/ejacPezh


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