Violet Stephens died after “serious failure” by medics at Queen’s Hospital, Romford, inquest rules

A mother died after giving birth due to a “serious failure” by doctors at Romford’s Queen’s Hospital, a coroner ruled today (Thursday).

Violet Stephens, 35, may have lived had she been given a caesarian section earlier, Walthamstow Coroner’s Court heard.

Instead the mum-of-three had to wait three days before undergoing the procedure because of a “serious failure” by consultants to hand over her care”, coroner Chinyere Inyama said.

The court also heard that Violet waited two-and-a half hours for an urgent blood transfusion when she was finally operated on.

Her cause of death on April 9 last year was given as multiple organ failure due a serious high-blood pressure condition called to pre-eclampsia as a result of her pregnancy.

The coroner recorded a narrative verdict and said that he would be passing his findings on to the health watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Violet’s child Christian, a baby boy, lived.

Sister Kitty Mhango, a nurse, told the Recorder after the hearing: “Now that I know what happened to my sister and the matter has been investigated my family and I can finally put the issue to rest with the assurance that no-one else will have to go through what my sister went through.”

She added: “The hospital in the future will be able to identify strategies to help nursing and medical care.”