Doctors terminated a healthy baby by accident during a procedure to abort its ill twin.
A mum-to-be had to undergo the operation because one of her twins was suffering from restricted growth, putting the lives of both babies at risk.
But surgeons mistakenly terminated the healthy fetus and its twin also died.
The death at the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust was one of 700 incidents where mistakes at NHS hospitals had fatal consequences.
Freedom of Information requests uncovered stories of patients falling from trolleys, being discharged too soon or not receiving correct tests or medications, The Sunday Express reported.
In another incident, a patient died at the North Bristol NHS Trust after they had the wrong section of bowel removed.
At the West Suffolk NHS Trust, a patient was told they had flu and were sent home from A&E but later died from sepsis.
Elsewhere, a patient who had been accidentally taken off an oxygen feed died at the Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust.
Another unborn baby died at the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust in Harlow, Essex. Investigations found it could have survived if a vital heart scan had been performed earlier.
Responding to the incident in which the twins died, Dr Fiona Reynolds, chief medical officer at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust, said: ‘Sadly, during a highly specialised fetal procedure in 2019 that involved operating within the womb to separate and potentially save the life of a single twin that shared a placenta, a fatal error occurred.
‘A full and comprehensive investigation was carried out swiftly after this tragic case and the findings were shared with the family, along with our sincere apologies and condolences.
‘The outcome of that thorough review has led to a new protocol being developed to decrease the likelihood of such an incident happening again.’
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