'Evil' midwife said I didn't deserve a baby' says mother who lost her child

12 April 2012

A mother has told how she lost her baby during a botched delivery by an "evil" midwife who treated her with "contempt".

Biobelemoye Toby "mentally tortured" Heather Paterson and told her she "did not deserve her baby", the Nursing and Midwifery Council heard.
The 47-year-old was two weeks overdue when she was admitted to the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead to be induced.

The hearing was told that the BBC World Service journalist was given medication she was allergic to, induced when she should not have been and refused access to a doctor.

It also heard a second midwife, Beverley Blankson, left Ms Paterson's husband Iain Croft, to watch the baby boy's heart monitor during the labour.

The couple's son Riley Arthur Croft was born a few hours later with the cord wrapped around his neck. Despite efforts to resuscitate him, he could not be saved.

A coroner later ruled failures in his care led to his death.

Ms Paterson said Ms Toby was in charge of her care when she was first admitted to the ante-natal ward on 25 March 2005.

But Toby at one point told Ms Paterson "no pain, no gain", as she screamed for a doctor and her husband begged the midwife for help.

Ms Paterson said: "She was very condescending in tone and bullying. I felt I had to shut up and do what she said, she was a total bully."
The panel heard Ms Paterson went into labour on March 23, but was sent home as the contractions were not very strong.
She had been told by a doctor they would break her waters instead of using any medicine to induce the labour but Ms Toby went ahead and administered the wrong dose of gel.

She told the NMC when she was younger she had a strong reaction to Pethidine during a kidney stone procedure and was advised not to take it again. Despite writing this in her birth plan, Ms Toby insisted this was the only medication she was going to get.

Ms Paterson said: "She told me to shut up a few times, I was made to feel I was a nuisance and disturbing other patients.
"Midwife Toby got really nasty. I asked for a doctor to come and see me, I screamed it down the corridor after her.

"She told me the pain wasn't real, that I didn't need a doctor, that I didn't deserve the baby and that she was going to take the baby away."
She said Ms Toby then gave her the choice of "Pethidine or pain".

Ms Paterson, from Crouch End, said: "She treated me with contempt and denied me my human rights. She tortured me mentally. I was totally intimidated. I knew that this woman was evil."
The hearing continues.

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