The Great Western Hospital NHS Foundation Trust is to face court over the death of a new mother whose epidural pain relief was mistakenly injected into her drip, resulting in her death.

The trust was due to face magistrates in Swindon, Wiltshire on Friday (20/11/09), but the case has been put back until 11 December.

The Daily Mail reports that in May 2004, 30-year-old Mayra Cabrera – who worked as a nurse at Great Western Hospital in Swindon – gave birth in the hospital’s maternity unit to a son, Zac.

However, shortly after giving birth she suffered a heart attack when an epidural injection – which normally would have been injected into the spine – was fed into an intravenous drip through a vein in her hand and went straight into her bloodstream.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is prosecuting the trust over allegations that it left patients facing ‘risks arising from the storing of drugs and drug errors’.

Director of nursing at the trust, Sue Rowley, confirmed the court date had been rescheduled for December and said:

‘We have been informed by the Health and Safety Executive that we will be prosecuted for safety breaches which resulted in the death of Mayra Cabrera shortly after giving birth in 2004.’

A spokesman for the HSE said the charges focused on procedures that ‘should have been in place to protect non-employees at the hospital’.

In 2008, an inquest into Mrs Cabrera’s death lasting five weeks recorded a verdict of unlawful killing, after the negligent storing of Bupivacaine led to a fatal dose of the drug being given.

Ms Rowley said that the hospital had changed rules regarding the storage of Bupivacaine immediately after the tragedy – and led the way for national guidelines introduced in 2007.

After her death, Mrs Cabrera’s husband Arnel faced deportation because of a change in his status. Last year, he was given leave to remain in the UK, however.

Ms Rowley added that the trust was hoping ‘not to have to ask staff involved in the inquest to give evidence’ in the case.

‘No-one will ever forget what happened and no-one will ever forget Mayra – but there does come a point when we have to move past it,’ she said.

Mr Cabrera described his late wife as ‘the love of his life’.

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