Mistakes that cost the life of tiny Isabella Hope Hill

A DEVASTATED dad has spoken for the first time about how his week-old baby girl died following a series of shocking medical blunders.

Tiny Isabella Hope Hill needed a tube inserted just below her heart after she was born at just 26 weeks.

But the tube was mistakenly stuck into her abdomen, causing a build-up of fluid and crushing her vital organs.

The hospital failed to follow its own guidelines and did not X-ray the tiny baby missing the dangerous build-up.

Isabella suffered a heart attack after battling for four days. She died four days later.

Speaking for the first time in an exclusive interview with The Sunday Post, Isabella’s dad said the tragedy had “torn the family apart”.

“We will never be the same again, knowing that without intervention Isabella would have survived,” said Dan Hill, 43, a former Royal Navy weapons engineer previously based at Faslane on the Clyde.

“My wife Jade had to come straight out of the hospital and deal with her grief while being a mum to our other kids which has been almost impossible.

“They have suffered watching their mum just disintegrate while I had to stop work for a while to help my family, resulting in us losing our house.”

Jade, 34, of Leigh, Lancashire, was admitted to Liverpool Women’s Hospital to give birth.

She was taken into neonatal intensive care because Isabella was so premature, but she amazed medical staff with her progress, prior to the mistakes being made.

Isabella, who weighed just 1lb 13oz, was fitted with a tube called an Umbilical Venous Catheter (UVC) to supply nutrients, blood and medication.

“It should have been put into position just shy of her heart,” said Dan, a trained medic.

“Unfortunately, the UVC was either positioned incorrectly or had moved.

“It went through a blood vessel and skewered her liver.

“At that point, they should have done an X-ray, but they didn’t.

“The fluids going into her went into her abdomen and ended up crushing her organs, causing a respiratory and cardiac collapse.”

The hospital has admitted failing to act on warning signs.

Isabella’s tummy became swollen and, four days after being admitted to hospital, she had to be resuscitated.

“She fought on, but the damage had already been done to her heart and she passed away on the eighth day,” said Dan, who has four other children, aged between three and 14.

Health chiefs held a serious incident review and admitted failings.

The family have now started legal action against the NHS.

At Isabella’s inquest, the coroner was so shocked by what he heard

he called for the hospital to investigate.

Since Isabella’s death, her parents have campaigned for new national guidelines which are set to be rolled out across England and Wales later this year.

“It’s about raising awareness so all medical staff have set guidelines to help them care for the little ones and no other family suffers this devastation,” said Dan.

Dianne Brown, director of nursing and midwifery at Liverpool Women’s Hospital described Isabella’s death as “tragic”.

She said the hospital’s investigations had led to changes across the country.

“We are committed to learning from this incident to ensure it does not happen again and are sharing our knowledge nationally to protect babies across the UK,” she said.