Coroner to investigate deaths of two mothers with herpes infections after C-sections by same doctor

A coroner is to investigate the deaths of two women with herpes infections after they received caesareans from the same surgeon.

Kim Sampson, 29, and Samantha Mulcahy, 32, died just weeks apart after their babies were born at separate hospitals run by East Kent NHS trust in 2018.

A coroner previously ruled in 2019 that as the women died of natural causes, and she believed that nothing connected the two deaths, that there would be no inquests.

However, documents were subsequently discovered that showed the virus that infected the two women was genetically identical.

Their families have campaigned for answers for years after a BBC investigation found the women had both been operated on by the same unnamed surgeon, who may have been the source of the infection.

A date for an inquest into their deaths has now been listed to open and adjourn in Maidstone on January 4, with a pre-inquest review the following month and full inquests at a later date.

Yvette Sampson, Ms Sampson's mother, said: "We've wanted this since Kim died in 2018 - it's been a long time coming.

"We hope we are finally going to get answers to the questions we've always had - both for ourselves and for Kim's children."

Government-ordered review of maternity services at trust

Ms Sampson's baby boy - her second child - was delivered at the Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother Hospital, in Margate, in May 2018, but she died at the end of the month in hospital in London after becoming infected.

In July Mrs Mulcahy, a first-time mother, died from an infection caused by the same virus at the William Harvey Hospital, in Ashford.

Herpes virus infections are extremely common and generally mild. Symptoms usually include cold sores or genital herpes in some people.

Deaths caused by herpes are almost non-existent in healthy people.

Dr Rebecca Martin, chief medical officer for East Kent Hospitals, said: "Our deepest sympathies are with the families and friends of Kimberley and Samantha.

"We will do everything possible to support these inquests and our thoughts are with Kimberley and Samantha's families at this time."

The East Kent Hospitals Trust first came under scrutiny following the death of baby Harry Richford in April, whose death was found to be “wholly avoidable” by a coroner.

A government-ordered review of maternity services at the trust is under way.