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A new mother who had an epidural drug mistakenly fed into her arm via an intravenous drip in Swindon was unlawfully killed, an inquest jury has ruled.
The inquest heard that 30-year-old Filipino theatre nurse Mayra Cabrera died at Great Western Hospital (GWH) in Swindon, Wiltshire, shortly after giving birth to son Zac, who survived.
Following the delivery on 11 May, 2004, anaesthetic Bupivacaine was wrongly administered into a vein in her hand and not into the usual place, the spinal cord.
The GWH midwife, who lived in Swindon, died a short time later from a heart attack caused by Bupivacaine toxicity.
Gross negligence by Swindon & Marlborough NHS Trust, specifically sub-standard storage of drugs in the maternity unit, had led to the death, the jury at the inquest at Trowbridge Town Hall said.
The verdict said: “Mayra Cabrera was killed unlawfully – gross negligence/manslaughter – storage and administration.”
The jury of six women and three men took 17 and a half hours to reach its majority decision.
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