Senior midwife at Queen's Hospital in Essex, Rebecca Matovu has been suspended for three months after she refused to help Sareena Ali who was in serious distress.
The midwife ignored the 27-year-old woman’s family who pleaded with her to help, calling her three times and even banging on the doors of the nurse’s station.
"The midwife just laughed and said that once she is in labour the pains are just going to get worse,” Sareena’s devastated husband recalled.
"One of them told me, have you not been reading books, what have you been doing for the last nine months, but I told them I am not a doctor, I don't know what to expect."
"One of them told me, have you not been reading books, what have you been doing for the last nine months, but I told them I am not a doctor, I don't know what to expect."
Sareera’s womb had ruptured, and as a crash team arrived to resuscitate her and perform an emergency caesarean, the midwife just clocked out and went home as her shift had ended.
The baby died shortly after being born, and Sareena died five days later on a life support machine.
The Nursing and Midwifery Council held a hearing for Rebecca Matovu and gave her a three month suspension from midwifery. However she was not struck off for her neglect.
The chair of the panel Clive Powell stated that “by ignoring the pleas for help that were made by the patient's husband, Ms Matovu failed to listen to the people in her care and this is especially serious given that she was acting as midwife in charge.”
"It is agreed that Ms Matovu should have recognised that an emergency situation had arisen given that she was personally asked to call the crash team.”
“As a midwife in charge, even if she had formally ended her shift, it was imperative that Ms Matovu assisted her colleagues and sought to find out whether her skills were required.”
