A woman from North Tyneside whose unborn baby died after she was discharged from hospital care has spoken out, revealing she was told by staff to call back later to schedule an appointment to give birth. Danielle Brown, 31, was seven months pregnant when she experienced medical complications that ultimately led to the loss of her daughter, Maisie. Danielle and Anthony want changes to be made. Anthony and Danielle were overjoyed to learn they were having a girl. I was just over the moon, I couldn’t be happier,” Anthony said. According to maisie’s heart rate had dropped and a midwife ran in and, ‘don’t panic, but I need to pull the emergency cord – you’re having your baby’,” Danielle said. A normal scan showed Maisie at 16 weeks. The screen was turned away and there was no sound,” Danielle said, when I finally had a scan. Have you been affected by the issues raised in this story.
The ordeal began in February 2023 when Brown woke up feeling unwell, with swelling in her face, hands, and feet—all recognized signs of pre-eclampsia, a condition that can be life-threatening for both mother and child.
The couple initially sought care at the Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital, where staff detected irregularities with Maisie’s heart rate and advised an emergency caesarean section.
Brown was subsequently transferred to the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle.
Although she was initially told she would remain hospitalized until the birth, a doctor reviewed her case the following day and authorized her discharge.
Brown continued to feel unwell after returning home and insisted on returning to the maternity unit for an examination. During the subsequent scan, doctors could not find a heartbeat, confirming that the baby had passed away. Rather than facilitating an immediate delivery, hospital staff provided Brown with a phone number and instructed her to call on Friday morning to book a slot for the delivery. Warning: This article contains themes and images some readers may find upsetting. According to within 24 hours, again feeling unwell, Danielle called the maternity unit and, She was told she probably had a stomach bug.
Reflecting on the experience, Brown described the agony of returning home to wait for the procedure. Her partner, Anthony Miller, 34, called the experience “horrible,” recounting the pain of “lying in bed and holding that belly” while knowing their child was no longer alive. Brown eventually gave birth two days later after a ten-hour labour. She remembers turning to her partner and saying: “I think she’s gone. After 10 hours in labour, Danielle gave birth, two days later.
The Newcastle Hospitals NHS Trust has since offered a “heartfelt apology,” with executive director of nursing and midwifery Ian Joy stating that the trust “fully accepts that aspects of the care we provided fell short of the standards the family had every right to expect.
Joy noted that the trust conducted a detailed review in 2023, which resulted in improved urgent assessment protocols for maternity patients presenting with unexpected symptoms, as well as the introduction of faster escalation procedures.
Legal representatives for the couple, from the law firm Irwin Mitchell, indicated that the trust admitted Brown should not have been discharged on February 14 or 15, 2023. Legal executive Faisal Ali stated that proper monitoring would have identified the necessity for an expedited delivery, which likely would have resulted in Maisie being born alive. “What happened to Danielle and Maisie vividly highlights the human cost of care failings,” Ali said.
Brown, who describes the loss as devastating, expressed that no family should be forced to endure such a process. She is calling for hospitals across the UK to establish alternative exits for grieving parents so they can avoid the trauma of walking past other families carrying their healthy babies. The couple further highlighted the lack of dignity in their experience, noting that they left the hospital with a memory box rather than their child. According to she, No family should be put through the same experience and wants hospitals to offer alternatives for those grieving.
An NHS England spokesperson condemned the incident, stating that such failures are unacceptable and should not have occurred. They emphasized that individuals experiencing the loss of a baby must be fully supported by specialist teams to ensure they can make care choices suitable to their situation. Brown and Miller, who have since received tattoos of Maisie’s hand and footprints in her memory, remain committed to advocating for better care standards to ensure no other parents suffer a similar experience.
