Mothers plan to sue after deaths of babies

A [Ghanaian] doctor was suspended after two babies he delivered died following complications during labour. Now the mothers of the babies are planning to take legal action against senior hospital officials.

Lisa Paget's daughter Erin was delivered stillborn at St John's Hospital in Livingston in July by locum Dr Tundy Shokoye.

Miss Paget is preparing to launch a medical negligence action against the hospital, claiming the doctor did not act quickly enough to save her child's life.

NHS Lothian is also facing court action over the death of Helen Triplett's son Alan, who was delivered by the doctor, known as Dr Tundy, more than a year before.

She believes her son should have been delivered more quickly when complications arose.

Dr Tundy is thought to have returned to his native Ghana and will not have his contract renewed. The news comes as concerns continue over staff shortages which have led to the NHS in Scotland increasingly relying on foreign doctors. Health officials said they could not comment on the detail of the cases, but insisted strict procedures are followed when checking the references of locums. Miss Paget, of Livingston, said a decision to use forceps to deliver her baby was not made for 45 minutes, despite her baby's heart rate becoming erratic. Miss Paget, 29, believes her child would still be alive if the doctor had been quicker to act.

She said: "It was my first baby and I didn't know what to expect. I just put myself in their hands. I was scared because it was my first labour.

"We want the NHS to sit up and look at who they are employing. I know it is hard for them because of money, but this is people's lives you are talking about. They have ruined my life. I protected my baby for nine months and I trusted them."

Mrs Triplett, of Broxburn, has also complained about Dr Tundy after her son died a month after being born at the same hospital on May 26, last year. Alan's twin, Adam, was the first to be born and Mrs Trip-lett claims doctors had to rearrange him before he followed his brother because he was lying in an awkward position.

The 40-year-old mother of four claims Alan became distressed as soon as his brother was born and should have been helped in birth immediately either by Caesarean or using forceps.

As his condition later deteriorated, she said: "At first I thought I was looking at a child with severe disabilities but that soon turned into a child that was life-limited in that he was going to die. My big healthy baby turned into just skin and bone.

"They gave him morphine because they didn't want him to suffer but the morphine didn't seem to work. He became severely distressed and it took him a long, long time to finally die.

"This will haunt me forever."

NHS Lothian medical director Charles Swainson said: "I would like to express our sympathies to both families on behalf of NHS Lothian. "Immediate investigations were carried out after each incident and the families were informed of the findings.

"These investigations mean we can take appropriate action if we find that care has fallen below the high standards all patients have a right to expect.

"Legal issues mean I cannot go into specific details, but the two cases were medically very different."

He insisted Dr Tundy was immediately suspended from the on-call rota following the incident involving Miss Paget, which meant he could not treat patients unsupervised.

Mr Swainson added: "Dr Tundy's contract as a locum at St John's then ended and he is no longer in our employment.

"We believe Dr Tundy is no longer in the UK and we have no plans to re-employ him.

"I would emphasise that strict procedures are followed to ensure that the references of any locums are checked before they are employed by NHS Lothian