A DAD has spoken of this heartbreak after his ‘healthy’ wife and their unborn baby died suddenly.
Sabine Mukanga, who was just 28-years-old, had complained of heartburn and was taken to hospital the same evening.
GofundmeSabine while pregnant. The mum-of-three died at the age of 28[/caption]
Sabine Mukanga, 28, and Robert Lawani, 39, with son Paul (now 14) and daughter Princiar (now seven)Focus Features
At seven months pregnant, she and her partner Robert Lawani were incredibly excited for the arrival of their baby girl.
At hospital, it was discovered their baby had died – but had been alive on arrival, according to Robert. Shortly after, Sabine died during surgery.
An inquest earlier this month found Sabine had died from internal bleeding. Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust was criticised for ‘shortcomings’.
Robert is now raising their children, aged seven and four, alone.
Sabine, who also had a 14-year-old son from a previous relationship, was laid to rest with baby daughter, Princetta, in her arms.
Robert, 39, from Manchester, said: “I am totally lost without Sabine.
“Sabine was perfectly fit and healthy with no problems in any of her pregnancies, so we had no concerns at all.
“It was a blur after she died. She was buried with our daughter, and just couldn’t accept it. I’d no idea what had gone wrong.
“We’d been so happy looking forward to a new baby. My life fell to pieces.”
Robert and Sabine met in 2013 and had two children before falling pregnant again in 2020.
In February 2021, seven months into the pregnancy, Sabine became unwell.
Robert says: “She was sitting on the end of the bed and complained of heartburn… She was passing out and was breathless, so I called an ambulance.
“The paramedics came a few minutes later, just after 10.30pm, and checked her over and said both mum and baby seemed fine, but they would take her to hospital, as a precaution.
“I arranged for relatives to sit with the children so I could follow the ambulance. But the ambulance was parked outside the house for a long time before they left, which was when my worries started.”
Sabine arrived at North Manchester General Hospital at 1am, where doctors wanted to do a CT scan.
Robert says: “Sabine was concerned about any damage to the baby, but they reassured her and so she agreed to it.
“She seemed chatty and upbeat and there was no sign of any emergency or panic, there seemed to be no hurry so I thought it couldn’t be serious. We still had no idea what was wrong.
“The doctors then said that our baby had died, and Sabine would have to have emergency C-section surgery.”
Their baby daughter, Princetta, was stillborn and Sabine tragically died during the surgery.
Robert said: “The last thing she said, as she was wheeled down for surgery, was: ‘Tell the kids I love them. I’m going to be fine.’
“I don’t know exactly when or how our baby died. There seemed to be no urgency at all at the hospital and yet by the end of the night, my partner and my baby were both dead.
“At the hearing, the doctors seemed to suggest that Sabine took time to consent to a CT scan. I was with her, she asked a question about the baby and then she gave consent. It took less than five minutes.
“I don’t know why it wasn’t carried out or whether it might have saved her. But I know I am left with more questions than answers.”
Gastrointestinal consultant Sayan Bhattacharya, who oversaw an internal review, said a CT scan was not carried out because Sabine’s blood pressure had dropped and it was deemed unsafe to carry out a scan.
It may have found that the source of bleeding – which Sabine had before coming into hospital – was located at the splenic artery, which supplies the stomach, pancreas, and spleen.
A splenic artery aneurysm is particularly life-threatening for pregnant women, who are more at risk of the condition, according to Cleveland Clinic.
Many people have no symptoms until the aneurysm is close to rupture, at which point it causes pain in the upper left belly.
Dr Bhattacharya said treatment is difficult as the artery is deep.
She added had the source of bleeding been found, “Sabine would have a slightly better chance of survival, but given this was an out-of-hospital aneurysm, her chances were poor to start with”.
Coroner Zak Golombeck identified ‘shortcomings’ in Sabine’s care, telling the court “there should have been a multi-disciplinary approach to her care”.
He added “where I can find, such shortcomings make more than a minimal contribution to her death”.
Mr Golombeck recorded a conclusion of death by natural causes. The hearing heard Sabine had suffered a ‘massive’ fatal bleed caused by an ‘external rupture of the external hematoma of the splenic artery’.
Following the hearing, a spokesperson for Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust said: “We would again wish to offer our sincere condolences to Sabine’s family for their loss.
“The coroner ruled that addressing the highlighted shortcomings sadly would have not altered the outcome for Sabine, but we have put an action plan in place as part of our approach to constantly learning lessons to improve patient care.”
Robert and friends have started a GoFundMe to take legal proceedings further.
He wrote: “I am not happy with the decision of the coroner at the inquest after admitting the short comings of the hospital but yet concluded that her death was natural.”
Focus FeaturesRobert said his life fell apart the day Sabine and their daughter died[/caption]
The couple are pictured with their two children, Princiar (seven) and Princeton (four), and Paul (14) from Sabine’s previous relationshipFocus Features