- An NHS trust failed to inform a mother of the risks involved with a natural home birth, a coroner has found, after her baby, Poppy Hope Lomas, died a week after delivery.
- Poppy died on 26 October 2022, aged seven days, following complications during a home birth facilitated by Edgware Midwives, part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust.
- Senior coroner Andrew Walker concluded the trust supported an "unsafe home delivery that was against medical advice" and failed to address an "accumulation of risk factors," leading to an absence or delay in interventions.
- The inquest heard Poppy's mother, Gemma Lomas, was not informed of the risks of a vaginal birth after Caesarean (VBAC) at home, despite RCOG guidance recommending such births take place in a suitably equipped delivery suite.
- The coroner made four recommendations to the Department of Health and Social Care, including requiring consent forms for patients choosing not to follow medical advice and multi-disciplinary meetings for unsafe home births.
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