An Aberdeen woman who lost her baby is calling for change after a pregnancy misdiagnosis that has “broken” her family.
Stephanie Reid sought medical attention due to a light bleed when she was five weeks pregnant.
She was sent for a scan at Aberdeen Maternity Hospital, where she was told her pregnancy was ectopic.
The 38-year-old, who has two children, claims the sonographer did not seek a second opinion but despite not suffering the “extreme pain” many associate with ectopic pregnancies, she and her husband accepted the heartbreaking news.
“I’ve had two healthy pregnancies with no problems, so I didn’t know what to think or expect,” Mrs Reid, from Bridge of Don, said. “I just took their word for it.”
Beautician Mrs Reid made the decision to have her fallopian tube removed after advice from doctors and had the surgery that day, as well as having the Mirena coil contraceptive implanted.
Results showed surprise news
But on April 27, Mrs Reid received a surprise call from medics who had carried out tests on her fallopian tube.
She said: “They phoned me when the results came back and the baby wasn’t in the tube and they needed to do more checks, so I had to go back to the hospital.
“I’d just been grieving for 10 days thinking I’d lost my baby and I’ve now been told there’s no baby there.”
Further testing suggested Mrs Reid was still pregnant, and a subsequent late-night scan that night showed the baby and its heartbeat.
Despite the turnaround, Mrs Reid and her husband Scott were immediately concerned about the baby.
She added: “I was petrified. As soon as I was told there was a heartbeat I said ‘but I have the coil’.
“That’s dangerous for a baby. It can kill a baby.”
Though the coil was removed after the scan, Mrs Reid still faced a substantial risk of miscarriage.
Hospital managers opted to assess Mrs Reid regularly and on May 2, another scan showed the pregnancy was progressing as normal.
She recalled: “Everything was fine. The baby was growing perfectly, heartbeat was OK.”
But a week later, she had another bleed and she was sent for a another scan.
She said: “That’s when they discovered the baby had actually died the previous week. It had died probably the day after my scan.”
‘Devastating’ impact on family
Mrs Reid said her family, including 13-year-old Zoey and 21-year-old Lewis, were “broken” by the news.
“The kids are devastated,” Mrs Reid said. “My daughter’s always been asking for a sibling and we kept saying no because she and my son are grown up now.
“Then we found out we were pregnant and she was so delighted. She came to every appointment because she wanted to be a part of it all.
“My husband and I don’t even know what to say to each other. It’s torn us apart. I feel so empty and so angry with what’s happened. I just want answers.”
Mrs Reid believes if her initial sonographer had requested a second opinion, she may not have been misdiagnosed.
She wants NHS Grampian to take steps to ensure no other female goes through the same trauma.
“If my first sonographer hadn’t really seen something she could’ve waited at least another week before scanning me again,” she said. “There’s no harm in that.
“There needs to be two experienced people making these decisions.”
“I’m not going to let this go.”
An NHS Grampian spokeswoman said: “This is clearly a distressing case, and our thoughts are with Stephanie, her husband and wider family at this very sad time.
“We have a duty to protect patient confidentiality, therefore we cannot discuss the details of any individual’s treatment or care. However, we can confirm a full review of this matter is under way and we are committed to sharing the results of this with Stephanie. We have already been in contact with her and are willing to meet for further discussion, as the family wishes.”
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