An MP in UK Parliament gave an emotional account of the night she found her five-day-old son not breathing.
Atoinette Sandbach reflected tearfully in the Commons on Monday evening about the fateful night her son died from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome in 2009. During her testimony, she called on the health ministers to ensure parents who experienced the same loss would have proper access to psychological support. She encouraged the government should honour a commitment to give mental health issues the same footing to physical ones.
Sandbach recalled, “The night my son died I woke to find him not breathing.”
Antoinette’s baby son Sam, who passed away from SIDS in 2009, Image Source
“Arriving at hospital, looking at a flatline in the ambulance for over 20 minutes, a crash team was waiting for me – but it was too late. The consultant neonatologist was calm and a reassuring presence and the nursing staff were patient. I readily agreed to a post-mortem, as I wanted to know exactly what had happened.”
Sandbach continued,”Staff at the hospital were wonderful but I found myself in a plain room with questions being asked of me. I was told that I had to wait for the police. I had left in such a panic that I had left my telephone behind and I couldn’t remember any telephone numbers and was there on my own.”
During her speech, a colleague intervened, praising the MP for an ‘emotional and powerful contribution.’ Sandbach thanked him and continued.
“I arrived home later that morning to find the police officers going through my house,” she said.
“Clearly they had to investigate as the death had been away from hospital, and I had to explain to my 6-year-old what had happened.”
Sandbach praised the counselling she received after the fateful ordeal and described it as a lifeline. She called on the health minister to safeguard psychological support for parents who find themselves in a similar position.
