Warwick Hospital apologises to parents of baby after failings led to his death

And Natasha and Kent Fermor, the devastated parents of baby Lucas Josef Fermor, are determined to do what they can to prevent the same fate from falling to other mothers and fathers.

An inquest, which took place at Warwickshire Justice Centre in Leamington on Thursday, recorded a narrative verdict and confirmed that Lucas died from an abnormal heart trace - caused by problems during labour - and that the condition had not been diagnosed or treated before he was born due to failings by maternity staff.

Lucas, who was born at Warwick Hospital on May 29, had suffered irreversible brain damage and was transferred to Leicester’s Royal Infirmary’s intensive care unit.

But Mr and Mrs Fermor, who live in Coventry, were told that nothing more could be done to save their only child and following a christening held in the hospital, he was taken off life support and died in their arms two days later.

Mrs Fermor said: “The hospital had already identified that because of my age, my pregnancy was high risk and, as such, I should have been carefully monitored during every stage of my labour.

“But I was told that everything was fine and I put my trust and the life of my unborn son in the doctors’ hands.”

Mrs Fermor had only seen her son for ten minutes before he was taken to the Leicester hospital and had not been aware of how unwell he was.

She said: “When Kent and I saw him in the neonatal intensive care unit, we realised the enormity of the situation. The doctors admitted he was so poorly that the only thing keeping him alive was the life support equipment.

“We knew we had to say goodbye to him. Taking the final decision to turn off his life support is the most difficult thing I have ever had to do, but we knew we didn’t have any option.”

Glen Burley, the hospital trust’s chief executive, said: “The trust has accepted that there was a delay in the delivery of Lucas Fermor, which we sincerely regret. We have fully investigated events leading up to the delivery and have taken action to make improvements. I would like to apologise and offer my condolences to Lucas’ family.”