Child safety at the top of the stairs, toys on the floor. Torkel H. Thowsen and Reidun Kleppe in Bergen have the most families with children, almost. On the living room table they have a stack of case papers. On the corner table, a picture they managed to take of their son Ole. He died shortly after birth in January 2022. Now the parents are starting Ole’s last fight, against Helse Bergen in Hordaland district court. – In the last two years, we have done what we can to document that many mistakes were made in connection with the birth. We do it both on behalf of Ole, but also for those who will give birth in the future. They should not experience the same thing that happened to us, says Kleppe. The memory of Ole lives on. For the parents, the grave has become an important place to remember their son, who was only five days old. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news The state administrator in Vestland has previously concluded that there were several violations of the law and that the Women’s Clinic (KK) did not provide proper health care when Ole was born. Following this, Helse Bergen has taken several measures. On Monday, the trial began where the parents are demanding compensation from the health company. They are the first of three couples to take Helse Bergen to court, after their babies died in the hospital after birth. All the couples believe that so many mistakes occurred during the births that there is a basis for demanding compensation, according to VG, which mentioned the triple lawsuit first. The sequence of events during the birth Redun Kleppe’s experiences and retelling of the sequence of events: 31 weeks on the way, little life was known from Ole who was an active child so far in the pregnancy. Called KK and came at 12:30, they took a CTG which showed a pulse. The county doctor points out that the child’s heart rate twice dropped more than 60 beats during the first hour. Such heart rate drops should not occur in a fetus in the 30th week without contractions, writes the specialist to Norwegian Patient Injury Compensation. The midwife asked a doctor to look at the results. The doctor asked for an ultrasound, which showed no abnormalities, then asked for a new CTG. The supervisor showed this measurement at a report meeting, it was assessed as abnormal. The midwife was told that a doctor should look into it – but nevertheless the couple was sent home by taxi shortly after 4pm. This is described as a communication failure at Health Bergen. The evening duty doctor came down shortly after 4pm, and assumed that the day duty doctor had cleared the journey home. Later, the mother was unable to come to terms with what had happened, she made new contact with the maternity ward. They returned to the hospital at 10:30 p.m. New CTG measurement was abnormal, yet it took three hours before delivery by caesarean section. The decision was taken by two senior doctors from home, who were not on duty. The most experienced in the on-call team was busy in an operation, and the other superior on duty had no one to consult with, wrote BT. According to the newspaper, the county doctor writes that the decision on abortion should have been made before and with the involvement of an experienced senior doctor at an earlier time. The county doctor does not blame the staff on evening duty. – Taking out a child so early in pregnancy is a difficult decision that those involved needed time to discuss, the report states. The criticism is aimed at the hospital. The health aid KK gave Reidun Kleppe from the time she first contacted the clinic until Ole was delivered, was not responsible, reads the conclusion. Disagree about where the responsibility lies If Thowsen and Kleppe win and avoid court costs, the income from a dispute that is underway will go to the National Association for Unexpected Child Death. A picture, a memory – a hat that Ole wore in the first hours of his life. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news The Hordaland district court will now decide whether Helse Bergen provided adequate health care before Ole died on 19 January 2022, just five days old. The other two cases will go before the court on 27 May and 30 August. – What this case is about is whether the health company can be held responsible for little Ole’s death, says lawyer Siren Preto, who represents Thowsen and Kleppe. On Monday, news did not receive an answer to questions for Thorgeir Hole, Helse Bergen’s lawyer. Preto believes that the responsibility should lie with the management, but points out that Helse Bergen puts the responsibility on the employees. BT writes that Preto in court referred to incidents going back to 2018 where the State Administrator has criticized KK for failing health care after deaths. She believes that the mistakes that were uncovered in these cases were repeated when Kleppe came to KK, and that these were known to the management. Hole believes that it is not sufficient that the county doctor has proven offenses in other supervisory cases. – The question is whether the clinic director at KK has acted grossly negligently, he said in court, writes BT. – Haven’t received an apology Health Bergen has received criticism from the county doctor and has changed its routines. But they have not really regretted that they have made any mistakes, says the couple. – Most of the apologies that come from the clinic director have the wording “I’m sorry if the parents experience…”. It’s not a regret. Then it has no content. I would have needed them to explain where they failed, and what they recognize as failure, says Thowsen. Helse Bergen is Norway’s second largest maternity unit. They receive between 4,000 and 4,500 children each year. Some of them die. But maybe Ole could have been saved. – It is of course an extreme strain to be in such a situation for such a long time. Not only is it draining energy to do the work that we have done, but it is also of course extremely emotionally demanding, says Torkel. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news Maternity assistance on duty A specialist appointed by Norwegian Patient Injury Compensation believes that if the caesarean section had been performed between eight and eleven hours earlier, it is likely that Ole would have survived. At that time they were all in the hospital. Then they were sent home by a midwife, without them having been able to see a doctor. Kleppe was unable to calm down, and contacted the maternity ward again at 10.30pm that evening. – I feel in a way that it was good work that night, says Kleppe. – I do not blame the doctors who were in surgery, because they were called, they had to contribute, they had to help. But I think a lot about the fact that they used two doctors who were not on duty, because they had too few basic staff this evening. When the midwife contacted a doctor at 10.40pm in the evening, she called a doctor who was at home. According to the parents, this doctor did not have a guard, but was at home and finished work. – We were told that the best doctors made an assessment of how the child was doing. But no one told us that there were doctors who were not on call. And we were also not allowed to see a senior doctor, either during the day or in the evening. For us it was unclear who was actually responsible for us, and I think that is very problematic, says Kleppe. On a stroller ride with ten-month-old Jens, on the way to his big brother’s grave not far from the house of Reidun Kleppe and Torkel Thowsen. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news This is how Helse Bergen responds news has tried to get an answer from managing director Eivind Hansen in the matter. Instead, the Communications Department at Helse Bergen replies: – Helse Bergen has worked systematically with measures following its own incident review and following feedback from the State Administrator. In general, we want to get all the facts on the table and learn from any mistakes when unwanted events occur. In addition to this, we do not wish to comment on details in cases where a legal process has been started, says communications director Erik Vigander to news. Helse Bergen has changed routines and is also following up with more regular guidance. Torkel Thowsen and Reidun Kleppe say they are confident that they have a very strong and comprehensive case. Photo: John Inge Johansen / news – When such tragic events happen, we want to look after the family in the best possible way, and a good dialogue with the next of kin is an important part of this. We apologize that we have not been able to meet the need for safeguarding well enough, says Vigander. Want a full stop For the family, the trial is seen as a necessity in order to end a bad chapter in life. The grief will always be there, but the knowledge that they have fought Ole’s battle in the legal system will hopefully help to make it a little easier to move on in life. – We feel that we have to take this fight, and we are not finished until the trial is over. We spend a lot of time talking about this. It wasn’t our life before, it’s not how we want it to be. We will talk about life, everyday life and normal things. The trial becomes an opportunity to draw some sort of line. And look ahead a bit, concludes Thowsen.
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The son died after five days – Helse Bergen is suing for lack of proper health care – news Vestland
