A GRIEVING mother, who claims medical negligence led to her baby's death, has blasted hospital staff for being callous and failing to apologise.

The Orpington woman, who asked not to be named, claims a 20-minute delay in the delivery of her twin baby son in 1995 led to severe brain damage which caused his death.

She and her husband accepted a five figure out-of-court settlement from Farnborough Hospital last October.

The mother said: "They have paid us this money and now want us to go away. But first we want to know if changes have been made to prevent anyone else going through what we have been through".

The couple's son was the second-born of twins. The surviving twin -- four in February --does not yet know he had a brother.

The hospital, which did not admit liability for the child's death, offered the couple the payout weeks before a scheduled High Court case.

The couple started their challenge after a friend of the family, a midwife, suggested that medical records of their son's birth showed he had been in foetal distress.

And in April 1995 the couple had the first of a series of meetings with a consultant obstetrician.

But the consultant was dismissive of their worries, according to the mother. She said: "She was very patronising towards us, callous even. She refused to accept our son might have been in distress".

In December 1995, the couple hired a solicitor. She found two independent medical experts prepared to back up their claims.

A spokesman for Bromley Hospitals NHS Trust said: "The Trust made an out-of-court settlement in October 1998 to the family.

"We deeply regret their tragic loss and the subsequent trauma and grief the family has suffered as a result."

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