A pregnant woman died after being taken to a hospital 10 miles away from where she collapsed.
39 year-old Estherline Caukler, spent 84 hours in traffic after being picked up by an ambulance at a train station where she had become ill. The paramedic at the station, who called the ambulance, identified that Caukler had internal bleeding, however, the ambulance crew, who did not recognise the severity of her case, took her to hospital rather that to one of the two A&Es that were a ten minute drive from the station.
“General practice is to take ladies to their booked maternity unit,” paramedic Paul Quaterton told Poplar Coroner’s Court. “At the time, I believed we were making the best decision for the patient.”
When Ms Caukler, who was 26 weeks pregnant, finally arrived at Homerton hospital in Hackney, where she was receiving her antenatal care, she was not seen for two hours. She subsequently had a heart attack and died from a haemorrhage early the next morning. Her daughter was delivered prematurely, however she also died two months later.
Professionals evaluating the case have said that Caukler could have survived if she had been taken to an emergency unit, and surgeon Yashwant Koak pointed out that her chances of survival continued to drop as time went on.
“By the time the patient came to Homerton, it was likely to have dropped down to 50 per cent,” he said. “At the time of the crash call [when she went into cardiac arrest], it would have been less than five per cent.”
Prior to Ms Caukler’s death, four other maternal deaths had occurred at Homerton Hospital over the course of 18 months, pushing the hospital to revaluate its procedures.
“At the very outset there was an opportunity to treat Ms Caulker … As time went on, that opportunity got smaller and smaller. By the time she was given CPR, it was next to nothing,” coroner Mary Hassel said.
“There was a failure of fully effective communication between health professionals at every stage in Ms Caulker’s care … If blue light transfer to an emergency unit with maternity support had been effected from the railway station then … she would probably have survived.”
