NHS staff fat-shamed 38-stone mother-of-four who was ‘terrified’ to return to hospital for C-section and died a month after op, her mother tells inquest

NHS staff were embarrassed by a 38-stone mother-of-four who was ‘terrified’ to return to hospital before dying just a month after having a caesarean section, an inquest has heard.

Shelley Harlow died in the early hours of May 25 at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital (QEQM) in Margate, Kent, after suffering a blood clot following a caesarean section the month before.

Her mother Wendy Pearson has now told an inquest that her ‘kind’ daughter was ‘absolutely terrified’ to go back to hospital after previously being ‘fat shamed’ by NHS staff who said she had a ‘big room ‘ and would need a ‘special room’. bed’.

The 38-year-old was pronounced dead at 2.26am on May 25 last year after undergoing five different operations following a caesarean section in April 2022, having previously been discharged from hospital less than two weeks earlier on May 16, 2022.

Mrs Harlow’s grieving mother told the inquest via video link: ‘I feel that Shelley was often ashamed. She told me that the day she went to the hospital, she was asked, “What are you doing here?”

“She told them she was coming in for a C-section and a staff member told her that they would now have to cancel many other C-sections because of how long hers was,” the grieving mother told the court hearing. .

‘Shelley kept telling me that they had not made a plan and that she was very afraid of having a caesarean section. I think when she was told she needed a special room and a big bed because of her weight, she felt even more scared.

‘I want to make people aware that being overweight is like an addiction, the same as smoking or drinking. There is no point in telling people to go on a diet if they are not working out. I think people need to realize that.’

Ms Harlow’s death came after the mother was given an anti-clotting drug called heparin, which she was prescribed after a miscarriage in 2021 to prevent her from developing blood clots.

After developing sepsis during her April 2022 caesarean section, Ms Harlow had to spend several weeks in hospital without her newborn baby. During this period she underwent five operations.

In both cases, doctors stopped blood-thinning heparin medication before Ms Harlow’s operations to prevent the 38-year-old from bleeding.

She was later discharged on May 16. However, due to an administrative error, heparin was omitted from the list of prescribed medications, the inquest was told.

In the early hours of May 25, 2022, just nine days after leaving hospital, Mrs Harlow stopped breathing – at which point her partner called 999 and gave her CPR.

Air ambulances arrived and paramedics used a defibrillator before Ms Harlow was pronounced dead at 2.26am.

Coroner Sarah Clarke drew a conclusion of natural causes and gave Shelley’s cause of death as massive pulmonary thromboembolism.

Supporting factors included her recent third-trimester delivery, cesarean section, postoperative sepsis, and morbid obesity.

She said: ‘The care she received during her stay in hospital was of a high standard.

‘She has had a total of five operations and her heparin has been stopped several times. The moment when things could have been different was when she was fired.

‘I am sure all doctors have considered their involvement in Shelley’s care.

“We can’t blame Shelley for wanting to go home and be with her baby. If the information on her discharge form had been clear, she might have continued taking the heparin.

‘But I have to say that this was not causal because even with the heparin she was still at risk and showed no symptoms before the night of her death.

‘I struggled with deciding whether to conclude natural causes or draw a narrative conclusion in this case.

‘Her mother described how Shelley was tormented by comments about her weight and how she felt fat.

“All that remains for me is to express my condolences to her mother, Wendy, and all of Shelley’s family.”

After the inquest, Mrs Pearson said her daughter was a stay-at-home mother at the time of her death.

The ‘friendly’ mother would also take care of her friend’s daughter, while the friend herself had difficulty with this.

Mrs Pearson said: “She was kind, she would do anything for anyone.

“She also had a friend who had a little girl. She would take care of her, Shelley would take the little girl around her and take care of her.

“She washed her, bathed her and made sure everything was fine. She had a great sense of humor, she made you laugh, she was funny.”

East Kent Hospitals Trust declined to comment on Wendy’s concerns that Shelley was deeply embarrassed and anguished by comments made by QEQM staff.

Jane Dickson, the Trust’s head of nursing, said: ‘Shelley’s death after the birth of her baby is devastating to her family and we would like to express our sincere condolences to her family.

“The circumstances leading to Shelley’s death were immediately and thoroughly investigated. An independent safety investigation has been conducted by the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB).

‘We have implemented all of the report’s recommendations and the findings of this investigation have been shared with Shelley’s family and HM Coroner.

‘We are now identifying women at risk earlier in their pregnancy to provide them with tailored advice and planning on conditions that may affect their labor and delivery, and to ensure that digital information is shared consistently with our partner organizations so that all professionals in health care a complete picture of women’s health.’