A NEW mother was unlawfully killed when an epidural drug was mistakenly fed into her arm via an intravenous drip, an inquest jury found today.

Filipino theatre nurse Mayra Cabrera, 30, died shortly after giving birth to son Zac, who survived, at Great Western Hospital (GWH) in Swindon, Wiltshire, on May 11, 2004.

Husband Arnel Cabrera said he wants the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute the midwife for manslaughter.


After the inquest Mr Cabrera said in statement: Mayra was my love and my life. On 11 May 2004 we were overjoyed when our son, Zac, was born. However our life together was ripped apart by the action of a midwife who failed to check the fluid she gave to my wife.


She had six opportunities to check this fluid. Had she done so, Mayra would have been alive today.


The midwifes failure to accept responsibility or show any remorse for her actions has made me very bitter and angry. I cannot forgive her and now hope that the police and Crown Prosecution Service will prosecute her for manslaughter


Following the delivery, Bupivacaine, a potent epidural anaesthetic, was wrongly fed into a vein in her hand - if given at all it should have gone into the space of her spinal cord.


The jury said gross negligence by Swindon & Marlborough NHS Trust, specifically sub-standard storage of drugs in the maternity unit, had led to the death.


The jury foreman, returning the verdict, said: Mayra Cabrera was killed unlawfully - gross negligence/manslaughter - storage and administration.