An inquiry into the death of a baby girl at a Scots super-hospital is set begin on Monday after an almost eight year wait for justice for her parents.
Newborn Sophia Smith died at just 11-days-old at the Royal Hospital for Children at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital ( QEUH ) in Glasgow on April 11, 2017 after she picked up a rare hospital-acquired toxin infection which later developed into sepsis.
Her parents Theresa and Matthew, from Greenock, Inverclyde, have been battling for answers ever since.
The Fatal Accident Inquiry into baby Sophia’s death will finally begin on Monday, February 17 at Glasgow Sheriff Court. It’s expected to take four days and will end on February 26.
Matthew and Theresa will speak at the inquiry on the first day.
The inquiry will explore the circumstances of Sophia’s death, with a particular focus on what role infection played in her death, the standard of care and communication. The Record previously told how the tot’s death has been part of Police Scotland’s Operation Quadric which has been examining other deaths within the QEUH campus.
Sophia had a few issues at birth but her parents were not overly concerned at first. But at a few hours old she was transferred to the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital. Doctors at the Royal Alexandra Maternity Unit in Paisley told Theresa and Matthew the £800million hospital had specialist equipment to get Sophia well quickly.
Over a few days the machines helping to keep the tot alive grew fewer in number and about six days after her admission to the Glasgow hospital medical staff started talking about her getting home. But everything turned on the tenth day.
Within hours little Sophia died in her heartbroken mother’s arms. The lower half of her body had turned black. As they held her in her last moments, her skin was peeling as it rotted away.
Theresa previously spoke out for the first time last year about the horrific ordeal. She told the Record: “It was traumatic to see our baby girl suffer such an undignified death.
“They must have known she had sepsis but we had no idea. We were begging them to save her.”
The couple have said how they are grateful that they will finally get to examine Sophia’s last days after their repeated attempts to get answers from NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde have failed.
“She didn’t deserve that gruesome death,” Theresa said. “We owe it to her to fight for justice. We will seek justice to our last breaths. We won’t let Sophia down.
“We’re in a nightmare from which we can never wake up but we are very grateful to Lord Advocate Dorothy Bain for granting us a fatal accident inquiry.”
The purpose of an FAI includes determining the cause of death, the circumstances in which the death occurred, and to establish what reasonable precautions, if any, could have been taken to avoid deaths in similar circumstances.
Procurator Fiscal Andy Shanks, who leads on death investigations for the Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said: Following a detailed investigation, the Procurator Fiscal decided that it was in the public interest to hold a discretionary Fatal Accident Inquiry to look at the full circumstances surrounding the tragic death of Sophia.
“The family will continue to be updated as the Inquiry progresses.”
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