Relatives of two women who died of chicken pox after undergoing caesarean sections by the same surgeon are bringing a clinical negligence action against an NHS trust in the High Court.
Kimberley Sampson, 29, and Samantha Mulcahy, 32, died within six weeks of each other in 2018 at hospitals in Kent run by East Kent Hospitals University NHS Foundation Trust.
Ms Sampson’s mother Yvette Sampson and Ms Mulcahy’s widower Ryan Mulcahy are pursuing separate legal challenges to the trust over alleged failings in care.
They also claim that the source of both women’s herpes simplex infection was a surgeon who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The trust denies liability in the cases, saying the pair were not exposed to the virus during the operations or by the surgeon.
Preliminary hearings in the cases this week marked the latest development in the families’ six-year effort to get answers about how the women were infected.
In July last year, Coroner Catherine Wood concluded that both women died of multi-organ failure as a result of a virus acquired before or around the time their children were born.
The coroner at the Mid Kent and Medway Coroners inquest also said Ms Sampson and Ms Mulcahy could have been treated earlier when their condition worsened.
After the death inquest, trust bosses said they were “truly sorry” for the “further and unnecessary suffering” it had caused the families, “for not answering their questions following the deaths of Kimberley and Samantha and contributing to their inquests being heard.” ‘.
Ms Mulcahy’s mother, Nicola Foster, vowed to continue to “fight for the truth” and said the coroner’s findings “provided no answers at all”.
Her later bid to challenge the coroner’s findings in the High Court was rejected by a judge in February this year.
In an online hearing on Thursday, lawyers for Ms Sampson and Mr Mulcahy argued their cases should be heard together in court.
Richard Baker KC, for the relatives, said in both cases it was alleged that the operating surgeon was a “common source” of the women’s infection.
He said that if the cases were not considered together, there could be a “peculiar” result of inconsistent findings by different judges about the surgeon’s role.
In written arguments, the barrister said the women had suffered a “rare complication”, with their relatives claiming the trust had failed to diagnose the virus “after they started showing signs and symptoms of infection”.
The coroner had previously concluded on the balance of probabilities that it was “unlikely” that the infection came from the surgeon, with the inquest saying his hands were fully cleaned and double-gloved and he wore a mask during the procedures.
He said he had no lesions and was not infected, although he had not been tested, the inquest heard.
Clodagh Bradley KC, for the trust, said on Thursday that “no court can safely conclude that the surgeon was infected (with the herpes virus) because there is no evidence of that”.
She said Mr Mulcahy’s “new” allegation that he had seen “touching of the face” by the surgeon was “incomprehensible” and the relatives were trying to “build one weak case against another”.
In written arguments, the barrister said the trust opposed the bid to join the cases because it would cause “delay, cost and inconvenience” and add to the surgeon’s “physical and mental distress he has already suffered”.
On Friday, Judge Charles Bagot KC concluded the two cases should not be joined as there were “differences in the way the cases are put and problems”.
He said linking the claims would be more expensive, more complicated and slower, adding that “there is no real risk of conflicting findings in these cases”.