‘I was told I was being dramatic during labour. Now my child cannot walk or talk’

Mollie Sutton has spent the past seven years waiting for answers.

Her son Rupert, aged 7, was born with severe disabilities and is now unable to walk or talk. He also has the mental capability of a four-month-old baby.

Ms Sutton, 27, endured a harrowing labour before Rupert’s birth and believes failures by Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust, both before and during her labour, may have caused his severe physical and mental disabilities.

She is one of hundreds of families now seeking answers as to why their babies died or were left with disabilities at Nottingham hospitals.

An inquiry by Dame Donna Ockenden, which has looked at thousands of cases of alleged poor care at the hands of the trust, is due to publish a report into its failings on Wednesday as part of what has become the largest ever maternity review in NHS history.

Ms Sutton told The Independent: “This can't continue to happen. How many more dead babies, dead mothers, harmed babies, harmed mothers do we have to see until somebody actually finally puts their foot down and does something about it?”

It was in September 2018, at 34 weeks pregnant, that Ms Sutton was admitted to the hospital and diagnosed with sepsis. Three weeks later, at 37 weeks, her labour was induced.

Ms Sutton, who was aged 19 at the time of the birth, described the intense pain she experienced during her labour. But she believes her begs for help were ignored due to her age.

“I was begging for pain relief. But I was told that I'm only two centimetres – I'm being dramatic. ‘I don't know why you're screaming because there are women on this ward with real problems,” she said.

At 4am, Ms Sutton, alone with her husband, said the baby suddenly seemed close to arrival so her husband pressed the emergency buzzer. Midwives came running into the ward, Ms Sutton remembers. The curtains had to remain wide open due to the number of people, and Ms Sutton says she was given no dignity at all.

Ms Sutton is now waiting to find out whether her son’s disabilities were caused by her care during and after her labour. But, as she awaits a report from the Nottingham inquiry team and a separate one from NUH, she said she wants urgent change.

She said: “They [the government, regulators and NHS] knew what was happening and they did nothing to stop it. The [watchdogs] CQC, the GMC, the NMC, and previous secretaries of state, they all knew what was happening. And they should be held accountable in a judge-led inquiry.”

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Source: The Independent, 24 June 2026