Birth tragedy - mum 'ignored'

Jessica Pollock, who was breach, was starved of oxygen when born naturally at the hospital in February, 2003.

Her mother told an inquest she had not been offered a caesarian, which she would have agreed to. Christine Veccepure, aged 39, also accused staff of ignoring her throughout the traumatic process and said that no one seemed to be in charge.

New Cross was criticised in 2003 when three healthy babies died, leading to an overhaul at the hospital.

Miss Veccepure said she was told the baby was in the right position until she went into labour on February 9.

She said she was examined by a midwife who went to get help and added: "She got the doctor who did an ultrasound but he didn't say a word to me. At that point the midwife said the baby was breach and I panicked but she told me the doctor had delivered thousands of breaches, implying it would be a piece of cake. I was whisked off to theatre."

Coroner Richard Allen asked her if she would have agreed to caesarean and she said: "There would have been no doubt I'd have said yes right there and then the fact of the matter was it was never discussed at all.

"Nobody was in charge. When we went into theatre and I asked for a C-section and an anaesthetist was mocking me. She said I wouldn't want it because I would be in pain for 10 weeks and I wouldn't be able to drive. She sat there reading a book throughout the whole thing."

When Jessica was born she was not breathing and her heart stopped causing serious brain damage, leading to her death two days later. It was Miss Veccepure's first baby with her then husband, Darryl Pollock, who lived with her at Mill Lane, Wednesfield.

Dr Gammage Weerasena, the registrar who discovered the breach and delivered the baby, said he advised her to have a C-section. This was different to an earlier statement but he said the notes were not a full record."

The inquest continues.