CPS Prosecute NHS Trust

The Crown Prosecution Service has summonsed a Hospital Trust to Magistrates Court after the death of Mayra Cabrera.

Mayra, a 30 year old Theatre Nurse originally from the Philippines died on 11 May 2004 shortly after giving birth to her son Zac at the Great Western Hospistal in Swindon.

The Coroner, Mr David Masters deemed Mayra’s death to be unlawful. The Coroner also made a number of recommendations including improving the appraisals system for Midwifes as well as better drug labelling.

It was found that Mayra died of a heart attack when a drug, Bupivacaine which should have been administered through epidural but was in fact injected into her arm.

The Trust claims that they have made a significant number of improvements since the incident in the maternity department.

It is unusual for the Crown Prosecution Service to take such serious measures against a Primary Care Trust but the Health and Safety Executive who are assisting in the prosecution now seem to be more willing to bring criminal prosecutions as I have previously blogged.