Toilet collapse Pc died in labour

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A police officer died giving birth to twins after collapsing in a hospital toilet, an inquest has heard.

Pc Sarah Underhill, 37, died on 5 October last year at the John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, after amniotic fluid from the womb entered her blood stream.

Pathologist Sebastian Lucas said her condition was "unpreventable" and that doctors could not have saved her.

Mrs Underhill's husband Richard has said that doctors should have performed a Caesarean section sooner.

Thames Valley police officer Mrs Underhill, whose twin babies were conceived through IVF treatment, collapsed after going to the toilet on her own.

She was forced to call for help by banging on the cubicle door.

Why did she draw the short straw and suffer severely where others may not? Who knows. It is an act of God. Sebastian Lucas, pathologist

When doctors arrived, they found her lying on the floor suffering from massive blood loss.

They were forced to perform an emergency Caesarean section while attempts were made to resuscitate Mrs Underhill as she lay on the floor.

The twins, Hannah and James, were delivered and are now cared for by their father at their Didcot home.

They survived after a "magnificent" effort by medics, but their mother died without regaining consciousness, the inquest was told.

Prof Lucas said: "Why did she draw the short straw and suffer severely where others may not? Who knows. It is an act of God."

Mrs Underhill's husband Richard, also a Thames Valley officer, had left his wife's bedside the previous day because he was suffering from a cold.

Delayed induction

Mrs Underhill was admitted to hospital on 2 October suffering from pre-eclampsia.

Doctors had planned to induce the births on 6 October because of the condition, which causes high blood pressure.

Mr Underhill said he was told the induction was planned for a Monday, rather than the preceding weekend, because of a lack of specialist staff on the maternity unit.

In a written statement submitted to the inquest, he said doctors should have planned to perform a Caesarean section in the days before his wife died.

Consultant obstetrician Lawrence Impey, who was in charge of Mrs Underhill's care, said: "If I had known what was going to happen on the Sunday, I would completely agree with him."

The inquest is due to finish later.