A devastated mum told today how she felt the excruciating agony of her body being cut open during an caesarean after a blunder left her without anaesthetic.

As Kira Lothian, 29, of Ebony Close, Colchester, had already been given a muscle relaxant, she suffered the horror of being awake during the operation but was unable to alert staff.

Doctors at Princess Alexandra Hospital, Harlow, had failed to notice the machine that should have pumped anaesthetic gas into a mask Mrs Lothian was wearing was empty.

Due to this, Mrs Lothian, whose husband, Alan, 20, is a paratrooper attached to 13 Air Assault Brigade, based in Colchester, could feel every cut of the consultant's scapel.

The couple's son, Samuel, was delivered weighing 2lb following the terrible ordeal, but died just two days later after a two brain haemorrhages.

Princess Alexandra NHS Hospital Trust has agreed to pay Mrs Lothian £13,500 damages in an out-of-court settlement.

Mrs Lothian, who was diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder, still has terrifying flashbacks from the ordeal, which occurred on July 26, 2003.

The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust confirmed today an incident had occurred with the anaesthetic equipment while Mrs Lothian underwent an emergency caesarean section last July.

A spokesman for the Trust said: "Immediate action was taken by the surgical team to rectify this situation and the Trust has offered our full and unreserved apologies to Mrs Lothian for the pain and distress caused.

The Trust also stressed that baby Samuel's death and Mrs Lothian's miscarriages were not connected to what happened to her

Published Wednesday August 18, 2004

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