Baby terminated by mistake after being mixed up with sick twin

The Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Trust has offered their condolences and apologies to the woman and her family.

An investigation conducted by the NHS has found that a pregnant woman in Birmingham lost both of her babies after surgeons mistakenly terminated the wrong fetus during an operation. The other fetus was suffering from restricted growth, which was endangering the viability of both babies. Surgeons wrongly terminated the healthy fetus and the twin also passed away. The case occurred in 2019, and since then, a new protocol has been put in place to prevent fatal mistakes like this from happening again. Dr Fiona Reynolds, who is the chief medical officer at Birmingham Women's and Children's NHS Trust, issued a statement on the tragic case. She said: "Sadly, during a highly specialised fetal procedure in 2019 that involved operating within the womb to separate and potentially save the life of a single twin that shared a placenta, a fatal error occurred. "A full and comprehensive investigation was carried out swiftly after this tragic case and the findings were shared with the family, along with our sincere apologies and condolences." Dr Reynolds said that the case led them to develop a new protocol that would prevent mistakes like this from happening again. She said: "The outcome of that thorough review has led to a new protocol being developed to decrease the likelihood of such an incident happening again." According to The Sunday Express, this case was one of 700 incidents where mistakes made at NHS hospitals led to fatal consequences. Other cases involved patients being discharged too early or not receiving the correct medications or test results. In one instance, at the West Suffolk NHS Trust, one patient died from sepsis after being sent home from the A&E. They had been told they were suffering from the flu.