Parents of a Black Country baby hope to get answers as to how their 13-hour-old son died from a ruptured liver, at an inquest in Birmingham.
Terry Foster was born by Caesarean section, 13 weeks early, at Sandwell Hospital, in West Bromwich, on July 5, 2007.
The inquest at Birmingham Coroner’s Court is expected to hear how just hours later he was transferred to a neonatal unit at City Hospital, in Winson Green.
It was here that doctors discovered bleeding in Terry’s abdomen, but surgeons were unable to operate as the necessary equipment for such a delicate operation was only available at Birmingham Children’s Hospital. However the baby was too poorly to be transferred by this stage.
His parents Kerry Morris and Robert Forster, from West Bromwich, were told there was no hope of survival, so they made the difficult decision to remove Terry from the ventilator and he died shortly after 1am on July 6. A post mortem later found Terry’s liver had been ruptured.
City coroner Aidan Cotter will investigate how he came to die from a ruptured liver.
Caroline Stokes, of Birmingham-based law firm Irwin Mitchell, who is representing the family, said: “Initially Robert and Kerry were led to believe that Terry’s death was entirely due to natural causes because of his prematurity.
“However, they are extremely concerned as to how Terry’s liver came to be ruptured and why he was so badly bruised – something which the original pathologist’s report fails to mention.”
Ms Morris added: “My partner Robert and I have been left completely devastated by the death of our only son. We have five beautiful daughters who have been robbed of a brother. Although three of our girls were born prematurely, all were in good health.
“The past sixteen months have been very hard to bear and I hope that the inquest will finally give us answers as to why Terry died.”
