Women in ICU Face High Risk of Stillbirth

Stephanie Prior

High stillbirth rates and repeated mistakes

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh carried out numerous studies regarding pregnant women being admitted to ICU’s (Intensive Care Units) and how this correlated with stillborn babies. They used healthcare databases for more than 760,000 deliveries in Scottish hospitals from 2005 to 2018, examining pregnancies resulting in a live birth, stillbirth or miscarriage.

Risk of stillbirth and death

Roughly 1 in 500, about 1,449 women, were admitted to ICU. The researchers found this increased the risk of pregnant women having a stillbirth as well as a 40 times higher risk of death than pregnant mothers not admitted. Commonly, the reason for admission to ICU was postpartum hemorrhage, where the patient experiences heavy bleeding after giving birth, the most frequent cause of death was cardiovascular disease. Researchers also found the risk to those treated in the ICU continues for about a year after they are discharged from the hospital.

Professor Nazir Lone, form the University of Edinburgh, states:

“Our study shows that women admitted to intensive care, experience more health problems during the year after pregnancy.”

Some experts say that this discovery illustrates the need for better fit care for critically ill pregnant patients, as maternal age rises.

Risk of maternal illnesses and death

In the UK, maternal death is known to happen to 12 in every 100,000 women with a further 70 to 90 women develop severe illness. Unfortunately, death is more commonly seen in women from ethnic minorities and those in socially deprived areas. The risk for maternal illnesses are becoming commonplace with more women with prior long term health conditions becoming pregnant.

Being admitted in ICU is related to an higher risk of stillbirth and care postpartum

The study also found that 1 in 16 women admitted to ICU experienced a stillbirth, contrasting the 1 in 167 chance for those who are not admitted. The study showed that mothers in ICU had babies who were 13 times more likely to need higher levels of care postpartum. Almost a quarter of the women discharged from ICU were readmitted to hospital in a year as opposed to less than 1in 10 of healthy mothers.

An unfortunate example of this is Charlotte Warner who experienced a preventable stillbirth when pregnant with her son, CJ, in 2018. The hospital recently admitted fault for the stillbirth as her child was starved of oxygen during the birth resulting in his tragic death. Charlotte recalled one of the doctors saying to her, “It’s okay, you’re really really young. You can go and have another baby” a truly shocking statement for her to hear after experiencing such a traumatic incident. This especially harrowing since CJ’s death was highly preventable and caused by the staff’s apparent negligence.

If any of the issues raised in this blog have caused any distress, contact Oscars Wish at oscarswishfoundation@gmail.com 

Contact Osbornes Law

If you believe that you suffered poor medical care during your pregnancy contact our medical negligence solicitors who are here to support you. After listening to you experience and looking through your medical records, our lawyers will advise you on whether or not a claim for medical negligence would be successful.