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New mother 'unlawfully killed'

05/02/2008

A new mother who died shortly after giving birth was unlawfully killed when an epidural was mistakenly given in her arm, an inquest jury has found.

Mayra Cabrera gave birth to her son at the Great Western hospital in Swindon in May 2004.

After the delivery a midwife wrongly fed the drug Bupivacaine into her arm.

The jury said gross negligence by the trust, specifically sub-standard storage of drugs in the maternity unit, had led to the death.

The coroner made a number of recommendations to the trust, Swindon and Marlborough NHS trust, which has pledged to implement them.

A statement from the hospital trust issued its "sincere apologies" to Mrs Cabrera's son and husband.

"As soon as the trust were aware of the cause of death we admitted liability so tragically caused by shortfalls in care," the statement read.

"We can never bring Mayra back; we can never bring back a wife or a mother. But we can do and we will do everything within our power to make sure that healthcare is safer in the future."