Kelsey Brown died at Ceram hospital in Marbella in 2021 (Picture: Instagram/Facebook)
The family of a pregnant mum who died during labour at a Spanish hospital say they are ‘hopeful’ of answers about her death.
Kelsey Brown, 34, was said by her family to be in ‘horrendous pain’ and bleeding for more than five hours before she became unresponsive.
A delivery of blood, at Ceram hospital in Marbella, allegedly did not arrive until minutes before Kelsey died on July 20, 2021 – and an investigation into her death is now underway.
Kelsey, originally from Liverpool but living in Spain at the time, was a ‘loving mum’ to her surviving child who was only five years old when she died.
An inquest into her death heard Andre Rebello, senior coroner for Liverpool and Wirral, was ‘limited’ in his ability to investigate her death because crucial medical documents hadn’t been provided by Spanish authorities.
Maria Brown, Kelsey’s mum, told the BBC: ‘Kelsey was a loving mum, she has left her five-year-old son behind. She was very healthy, she didn’t drink or smoke, Kelsey really looked after herself.
Kelsey Brown was only 34 when she died (Picture: Instagram)
She died at Ceram hospital in Marbella (Picture: Facebook)
‘She was a great daughter, a great sister and a great mum.’
Kelsey, a hairdresser, had moved to Spain with her partner and all of her antenatal appointments while pregnant with her second child had been normal.
She went into labour on July 20, but shortly after arriving at hospital a scan revealed her baby had died.
Mr Rebello said: ‘Kelsey was advised she could not have a caesarean and she could not have an epidural, and would have to give birth naturally.’
Kelsey began losing blood at around 1.30pm local time and medical staff attempted to deliver the baby using forceps.
Baby Tom was delivered at 4.30pm and his umbilical cord had been wrapped around his torso and arm, preventing him from feeding.
But during the birth, Kelsey’s partner and sister said she was in ‘horrendous pain’ and ‘bleeding profusely’.
The inquest heard Kelsey was still bleeding but the hospital had no supplies of blood on-site. A consignment arrived at 6.45pm, but she was declared dead by a doctor half an hour later.
Mr Rebello said a post-mortem examination had taken place in Spain, but the results were ‘withheld’.
Kelsey’s body was repatriated and a further post-mortem was carried out in Liverpool, but medical notes about the care received at Ceram hospital were unavailable and the medical cause of death could not be ascertained without that ‘context’.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office had advised there could be lengthy delays before the Spanish authorities provided the results of an investigation.
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Mr Rebello said he could only reach an open conclusion due to the lack of evidence.
He told Kelsey’s parents: ‘Hopefully the Spanish authorities will make efforts to bring justice to what occurred, they will be looking to see if there were opportunities to do something meaningful for a different outcome.’
Mrs Brown replied: ‘Hopefully they will give us some answers.’
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