UK hospital authority fined nearly $1M over newborn's death

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) – A British hospital authority on Friday was fined £800,000 (over $990,500) over failings in the care of a mother and her baby daughter who died 23 minutes after being born in 2019.

District Judge Grace Leong ordered the Nottingham Hospital Trust to pay the fine after hearing from the prosecutor on behalf of the Care Quality Commission, which brought legal action against the trust, and Bernard Thorogood, a lawyer representing the interests of the trust, the Nottingham Post reported.

The hospital pleaded guilty over the care and treatment of Sarah Andrews and her baby daughter, Wynter, who died 23 minutes after birth in 2019 at the Queen's Medical Centre.

"Wynter died after the umbilical cord had become wrapped around her neck and acute chorioamnionitis – an inflammation of the placenta due to an infection. She had also suffered a haemorrhage to the brain and lung," according to a report.

After the trust's guilty plea, the fine was reduced from £1.2 million to £800,000.