Medical staff and health managers are to be questioned at an inquest into a heavily pregnant nurse who died after contracting coronavirus.
Mary Ageiwaa Agyapong, 28, was suffering from Covid-19 when she was admitted to the Luton and Dunstable hospital on April 7, 2020, this year.
Mary, who worked on a general ward at the hospital and was 35 weeks pregnant, died five days later.
Her baby daughter, Mary, was successfully delivered by caesarian section and survived.
Her husband Ernest Boateng watched a Pre Inquest Review via video link to Ampthill Coroner’s Court on Wednesday, September 30, 2020.
His barrister Martin Forde QC told Bedfordshire Senior Coroner Emma Whitting that the nurse had suffered a “difficult pregnancy.”
He said Mr Boateng will provide a statement about his wife’s condition when she was discharged from the hospital on April 5, two days before she was readmitted.
He said the inquest will need to hear from the person who decided to discharge her on that day. The coroner also said: “I would need to hear from someone in management to hear how maternity leave is organised.
“The Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch is preparing a report into Mary’s death and is also to provide a report into maternal deaths during the Covid-19 Pandemic.”
The coroner said the inquest is listed for 4 days March, 23, 24, 25 and 30 next year. Another Pre Inquest Review has been set for January 6, 2021.
Mary Agyapong was born in Agogo in Ghana in 1992 and lived in Masefield Road, Luton.
At an earlier hearing coroner’s officer Alan Dawson said: “She was admitted to the Luton and Dunstable hospital on April 7, 2020 at 35 weeks pregnant with shortness of breath.
“A swab was taken and she was confirmed positive for Covid-19.
“She was taken to theatre for a Caesarian section and then transferred to the intensive care unit. She sadly deteriorated and passed away.“
He said the cause of death was recorded as: 1A pneumonia and 1B Covid B and 2 ceasarian section.
At the time of her death David Carter, the chief executive of the Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, described her as a “fantastic nurse and a great example of what we stand for in this trust.”
A Go Fund Me page was set up for her husband Ernest Boateng and their children AJ and Mary.
It raised a total of £187,039. In an earlier interview with the BBC Ernest said Mary, who had worked at the hospital for five years, felt too “helpless” to ask her employers to stop working, even when she was warned by a union representative that it was not safe.
He said after his wife died he got a call from a union rep who told him he had met Mary on the ward and told her “Mary it’s not safe, you need to get out of here.” Ernest said “But she said she couldn’t help it. She was helpless.”
The husband says his wife had been very careful about removing all her work clothes when coming back home after working at the hospital. He says she would change at the front door and shower before joining the family.
The trust issued a statement to the BBC and say they are confident Mary received the best possible care and support from the trust.
Sign up for your daily digest of local Bedfordshire news here:
https://www.bedsbulletin.com/bulletin/sign-up/
