Asylum seeker to sue Home Office after her unborn baby dies

By Tara O’Connor, local democracy reporter

An asylum seeker has claimed staff at Home Office accommodation in Croydon refused to call an ambulance for her leading to her losing her unborn baby at just seven months.

The Guardian recently reported that a woman was placed at Brigstock House in Thornton Heath after fleeing Angola in January 2020.

She told the newspaper that in March she asked housing staff to call an ambulance when she was 35-weeks pregnant, claiming they refused and left her bleeding in reception for more than three hours.

She was taken to Croydon University Hospital after another resident called an ambulance where she was told her baby had died.

The woman has made a claim against the Home Office for negligence and failure to discharge their duty of care leading to personal injury, psychiatric damage, distress, anxiety and the breach of the client’s human rights through Deighton Pierce Glynn solicitors.

In a statement, the firm said:  “Our client, heavily pregnant, in severe pain and in fear for the safety of her baby, sought immediate assistance from staff at her asylum support accommodation, urgent assistance was denied to her. Our client lost her baby.

“Since being instructed late last year we have been gathering evidence, a Letter of Claim has now been sent.

“Our client hopes to improve the Home Office’s systems so that others don’t experience the treatment she was subjected too.

“Unfortunately the longer the case continues the more upsetting and re-traumatising it will be for our client, we hope the Home Office will recognise the clear failings here and take the necessary steps promptly.”