Vivienne Elizabeth Williams, a Partner at Berrymans Solicitors, has called for a thorough investigation into how a batch of liquid food for babies was contaminated with a deadly bacteria after a newborn baby died and 14 others were treated for blood poisoning.
According to a statement issued by Public Health England, the babies were in neonatal intensive care units in six different hospitals. They were all given nutritional fluids into the bloodstream via a drip and the particular batch of fluids was contaminated with Bacillus Cereus, which can cause septicaemia if it gets into the bloodstream. Inspectors from the Medicines & Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) will be visiting the plant to investigate.

Ms Kirwan, who heads the Clinical Negligence Department at Berrymans Solicitors, said “Parents naturally trust that the food being given to their babies in hospital will not cause them any harm and it is vital that lessons are learnt from this tragedy.” The hospitals involved are: Chelsea and Westminster NHS Trust (4 cases), Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust (3 cases), The Whittington Hospital (1 case), Brighton and Sussex University Hospitals NHS Trust (3 cases), CUH Addenbrookes (Cambridge University Hospitals) (2 cases) and Luton and Dunstable University Hospital (2 cases).

Information was correct at time of publishing

CAPTION: Vivienne Elizabeth Williams, Head of Personal Injury and Medical Negligence