A stillborn baby was ‘left to rot on a hospital floor’ for six days when staff forgot about her.

The tiny body of the baby girl delivered at Medway Maritime Hospital in Kent, began to decompose after nurses left her in a transportation cot on the floor.

She had been taken from her mother by hospital staff and was due to have a post-mortem examination.

But nurses forgot about her and the body was only discovered nearly a week later when staff at Great Ormond Street called to enquire about the stillbirth, reports The Daily Mail.

Hospital bosses have issued an apology to the family, and introduced new guidelines to prevent it happening again.

The incident occurred in 2014 and the mother is now taking legal action.

The baby’s mother said the ordeal will haunt her for the rest of her life.

She told BBC Radio Kent: ‘At the end of the day, she was a human being and had the right to be treated like one, like anyone else, after they’ve passed away.

‘How did she feel? I knew she wasn’t alive but that’s still her body. To think that nobody thought about her for nearly seven days.”

She added: ‘You feel angry, upset, you lose trust in people. It’s going to haunt me for the rest of my life.

‘She wasn’t in a cold cot, she was in a transport cot on the floor. She was just left to rot.’

“You automatically think they [the babies] are going to be looked after…the fact these people choose to do their job [you’d think] they would just care for them no matter what.

‘I shouldn’t have had to question the care of my daughter after she was out of the room because it should automatically be there.

The family’s lawyer, Nick Fairweather, added: ‘I don’t think I have ever come across a case where such abject errors have been made, which had such a horrific effect compounding the grief that this family was going through already.

‘To have this on top of that is really quite atrocious.’

Dot Smith, head of midwifery and gynaecology at Medway Maritime Hospital, said: ‘We’re extremely sorry for the distress the family has suffered. We’ve already written to the family to acknowledge the failings on our part.

‘In 2014, we carried out a Serious Incident investigation report into the circumstances surrounding this matter – the findings of which have been provided to the family.

‘As a result of this incident, we’ve introduced new guidelines for our nursing staff to prevent this from ever happening again.

‘We’ve also employed the services of a bereavement midwife to provide specialist support to our staff, and to help grieving families in coordinating bereavement care, should they suffer the tragedy of losing a child.’

So heartbreaking.

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