Elise Flitcroft (pictured with partner McCauley) had travelled to Royal Bolton Hospital in an ambulance, where a midwife slammed her for wasting NHS cash.
A hospital was forced to apologise after a pregnant teenager was criticised for using an ambulance ‘like a taxi’ a few hours before her baby died.
Elise Flitcroft, 19, had travelled to hospital in an ambulance after suddenly feeling gravely-ill when 23-weeks pregnant, an inquest heard.
But when a midwife dismissed her pains as a urinary infection she then slammed Ms Flitcroft for wasting NHS cash, by using an ambulance like a taxi service.
Bolton Coroner’s Court heard midwife Rukaiya Jamadar told the pregnant youngster: ‘Do you know that taxi has just cost us £300?’
Just two-and-a-half hours after Ms Flitcroft was sent back home to Farnworth, Bolton, she had a breach birth on her bathroom floor.
The inquest heard lifeless baby Dominic Tatlock was rushed back to Royal Bolton Hospital, but never recovered and died in an incubator within hours.
Last week a coroner expressed shock at the midwife’s ‘taxi’ remark branding it ‘extraordinarily insensitive’.
And after the hearing the hospital formally apologised to Dominic’s grieving and devastated parents McCauley Tatlock, 21, and Ms Flitcroft.
Sue Ainsworth, head of midwifery for Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, stressed it was not policy for pregnant women to be discouraged from calling 999 for an ambulance.
Ms Ainsworth said in a statement: ‘We are deeply sorry that our midwife may have caused distress during this difficult time.
‘I can assure you it is not policy, nor was it a directive to staff, that women in labour should be discouraged from using ambulances to attend hospital.
‘Our midwife has apologised to the family for her comments, and lessons have been learnt for the future.’
Last Friday’s hearing in Bolton heard how the concerned mother-to-be had been taken via ambulance into hospital last July 29, with severe abdominal pain.
The inquest heard that at 20 weeks into her pregnancy, Ms Flitcroft was given high-risk status after an examination by medical staff.
The inquest heard lifeless baby Dominic Tatlock was rushed back to Royal Bolton Hospital (pictured), but never recovered and died in an incubator within hours
Fearing there may have been something wrong with her pregnancy, she decided it was best to get in and see a midwife as soon as possible.
At the time, her mum had been willing to take her by car but because of her daughter’s worsening condition she phoned doctors and an ambulance.
She was given an examination by a gynaecologist and trainee medic Dr Kenn Lim and by midwife Rukaiya Jamadar.
But in her statement to the coroner, Ms Flitcroft expressed her upset at how she was treated by the midwife who diagnosed the urinary infection and sent her home.
She told Coroner John Pollard that the midwife told her off afterwards, saying: ‘Do you know that ‘taxi’ has just cost us £300?’
Shocked Mr Pollard asked Ms Jamador what she knew about the comments.
Ms Jamador admitted she had made the remarks and apologised in court to the coroner and also to Ms Flitcroft and her family.
Stunned Mr Pollard said: ‘I accept it wasn’t said with any malice, but if that is the policy of the NHS I have never heard that before.
‘It’s an extraordinarily insensitive thing to say to any patient.’
The hearing was told premature babies born at 23 weeks had a 30 per chance of survival in hospital – but just a 15 per cent chance of survival if born at home.
However, a study has shown that of those that survived, 14 per cent were left with some form of disability.
Mr Pollard heard that little Dominic was born on July 30, just 23 weeks and five days into his mum’s pregnancy.
He decided that Dominic had died of natural causes after medical complications during the pregnancy.
After the inquest, Ms Flitcroft said: ‘After the midwife had decided I had a urinary infection, she had a proper go at me for having the nerve to use the ambulance as a taxi service.
‘At the time, I was in severe pain, my waters had broken weeks earlier and I was classed as a high risk pregnancy.
‘I felt very vulnerable and yet the midwife was very arrogant and dismissive of what I was telling her.’