Exclusive:Husband of mum who died in childbirth speaks of loss of patient trust

Lori-Mark Quate’s wife Jacqui Hunter passed away at Ninewells Hospital in Dundee in May 2020 of a rare condition after being given medication to bring on the labour of the couple’s stillborn daughter.

Mr Quate later found out his wife had been given eight times the recommended dose of the labour-inducing drug. Some experts say this mistake may have contributed to her death.

Just a week before she was due to give birth, Ms Hunter, 39, had been given the news that their daughter had died in the womb.

Within hours of being given the medication to induce the labour, Ms Hunter endured intense contractions and slumped into Mr Quate’s arms at one point. He thought she had fainted

As staff at the hospital rushed to help her, she suffered a cardiac arrest and died from an amniotic fluid embolism two hours later.

Mr Quate told The Scotsman: “You go in with an expectation that these are professionals. This is their job. This is what they’re doing day in, day out. You have an unspoken trust of people in those positions.”

He went on: “As far as I’m concerned, I think that it needs a Scotland-wide review of maternity services.

“Hearing this slow, reluctant admission that it’s actually worse than we expected... actually it’s not just worse than we expected, it’s deteriorating, which seems to suggest that it’s on a downward trend rather than levelling or improving, that’s horrendous and terrifying.”

He went on: “I think the task force, on the one hand, is, is a progressive and good step forward. I think there is good intention with that.

“I'm not wholly convinced that it will crack the nut as it needs to be. I think it's going to need something harder and more focused.”

When asked if the admission that maternity services are “deteriorating” was a breach of trust, Mr Quate said: “I would go further and say it's not just a breach, it's a complete dissolving of any patient trust.

“You're willing, behind closed doors, in dark back rooms, to whisper amongst yourself and agree: ‘Yeah, this is the case. This is worse than we expected. It's deteriorating.’

“But you're expecting people to come in, pregnant women at their most vulnerable points, and to say, we trust you with this.”

NHS Tayside said in October that it was “so deeply sorry” for Mr Quate’s loss.

It added: “NHS Tayside undertook a number of internal investigations and engaged in external reviews following the deaths to ensure all learning opportunities were taken by the organisation to deliver improvements.

“'All recommendations identified in the reviews were fully accepted and, as a result, our systems and processes have been strengthened where required and improvements have been made to how we provide care.”