New mother found dead in maternity unit just hours before she was due to go home with first son... but doctors can't agree how she died.

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A new mother died in a hospital maternity unit just moments after texting her husband to say she could come home with their first son.
Nurses discovered Jane Whiteside, 41, slumped in a chair in a private room at Burnley General Hospital, an inquest heard yesterday.
The building society manager was pale and unresponsive and her baby boy Ben was crying in the cot at her side.

Grief: Jane Whiteside and her husband Stephen Whiteside. She was found dead in a hospital maternity unit on the morning she was due go home after giving birth to her first son

Midwives started to perform heart massage on the patient while she was still in the chair and then moved her to the floor where they continued resuscitation until a crash team arrived.
The mother-of-two was declared dead 40 minutes later at 10.25am on September 22, 2011.
Mrs Whiteside’s family, from Burnley, in Lancashire, now face further turmoil after doctors failed to reach a conclusion about the cause of her death, the inquest was told.
One pathologist has blamed the post-birth infection postpartem sepsis while another cited cardio respiratory arrest.
The inquest was told Mrs Whiteside had attended Burnley General Hospital on September 22, 2011 for a pre-arranged caesarean section because of her scoliosis - curvature of her spine.
Ben was delivered successfully the same day and after his mother came round from a general anaesthetic she was said to have been 'extremely happy and looking forward to the future'.

Loss: Mrs Whiteside's mother Jean Ridehough leaving the inquest. She spoke of her concerns over the care her daughter received after the birth

Mrs Whiteside who also had a daughter Lucy, then aged five, had been eating fine and had been put on iron tablets after the birth.
But her mother Jean Ridehough became concerned with the aftercare of her daughter when her legs became extremely swollen.
She and Mr Whiteside were allowed into the recovery room where she said her daughter had been struggling with an oxygen mask and had felt nauseous.
Mrs Ridehough, 59, who had seen her daughter every day up until her death told the inquest: 'I never felt the recovery was quite as good as it was with Lucy.
'I was really concerned about her legs, they were really swollen and misshapen but no one else appeared to be concerned when I asked about the lack of attention.
'You are very much left to feel responsible for your care, it was like a case of you have had your baby, recovery and go home.
'On the Saturday Jane wanted me to go in, she was a little tired, Lucy was singing to the baby, they were all extremely happy and looking forward to the future. A new family all together.
'That was the last time I ever saw her.'
Mr Whiteside, 40, told the inquest: 'Scoliosis did restrict her in certain ways but it was not as if she was going to be an Olympic athlete.
'She could do day to day things like everyone else could do but sometimes things were a bit tough like picking Lucy up. Day to day she was fine.'

Burnley General Hospital where the new mother was found dead three days after giving birth

He added that after the birth of Ben she didn’t suffer any more problems than another woman who had given birth yet had been 'groggy' from the operation but did have 'really swollen legs'.
He said: 'Everything was very similar to when Lucy had been born. She wanted it (birth) out of the way and to carry on with life. She was groggy when she came round from the major operation but was happy she had a little boy and her family there.'
'There were never any particular complaints about anything in particular but I noticed she had really swollen legs.
'She could get about but was a bit of a strain.'

Mr Whiteside said his wife had texted the morning of her death asking him to bring a bag so she could pack up her things and come home

Mr Whiteside told the Burnley hearing: 'She was wanting to come home but it hadn’t been said when she could come home.
'Jane was trying to push for the Sunday morning.
'As far as I’m aware it was going fine, she just wanted to come home and texted in the morning about 8am saying "bring the bag which I’m going to be packing, I’m coming home".'
Health care assistant Wendy Fallows told the inquest that she had checked on Mrs Whiteside at around 8.40am, on the Sunday morning to see if she had been given breakfast and she had been asleep in the chair.
She added: 'I had gone into the room and everything appeared peaceful, the baby was asleep and Jane appeared to be asleep, the (breakfast) tray was by her.
'I knew she had got her breakfast and that’s what I was checking.
'I looked in, I didn’t go in. It was a peaceful scene, all okay and no concerns.
'I had a good look because I needed to make sure she had had breakfast, I didn’t go in because she was asleep and the baby was asleep.'
But an hour later Mrs Fallows returned to the room to collect the breakfast tray to find Jane still apparently asleep but with Ben crying
She added: 'She was in the same position she had been in before. I called out to her, there was no response. I walked past the baby and went to Jane in the chair, she appeared pale and unresponsive.
'I called her name and gently shook her, there was no response.'
Midwife Jane Morris came into the room within seconds and started heart massage.
Mrs Morris said: 'My first reaction was that she had passed away, there was no sign of life. I did what I could, what I thought was best at the time.'

SEPSIS - A MAJOR CAUSE OF DEATH AFTER SURGERY

Sepsis, also known as blood poisoning or septicaemia, is the body's often deadly response to infection or injury.
It is estimated that there are over 30,000 cases of severe sepsis in the UK every year.
Once sepsis sets in, if left untreated, it can progress to septic shock and death. Worldwide, one-third of people who develop sepsis die.
The most common cause of sepsis after surgery (including Caesarean section, which is major abdominal surgery) is infection.
This could be infection of the incision, where the surgeon opened to perform the procedure, or an infection that develops after the surgery, such as pneumonia or a urinary tract infection (UTI).
The British Heart Foundation says that, in extreme cases, sepsis can trigger a cardiac arrest - when the heart stops beating.  Cardio respiratory failure is heart and lung failure and can lead on to a cardiac arrest.

Anaesthetist Dr Samar Johana told the inquest that before the operation Mrs Whiteside had 'appeared well' and added that there had been no aspiration (breathing in a foreign object) due to the anaesthetic.
Gynaecologist Dr Nikoletta Panagiotopoulou who carried out the C-Section said the procedure was performed with no complications and had been deemed successful.
But coroner Mr Richard Taylor said that Mrs Whiteside’s family had been left with 'concerns, and confused' at her loss and why the cause if her death couldn’t be agreed by medical experts.
The hearing continues.

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