NHS trust wrongly blamed mother for baby girl's preventable death — now the parents are helping to fix it

From the Newshound archive · first published 8 October 2026 · last updated 9 October 2026.

Katie Russell was accused by the Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust of refusing foetal monitoring during labour — a claim an inquest later ruled was untrue. Poppy Russell died in April 2021 at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford after staff missed signs she was in distress, and an inquest found she would have survived had she been born just one hour earlier. Despite the trust's cover-up attempts, Katie and Neil Russell are now working with the same hospital to restore compassionate care.

Katie had begged for a caesarean throughout her pregnancy due to tokophobia, but was repeatedly refused by midwives who told her she 'couldn't just ask for a c-section.'

The inquest found Poppy's death was preventable, and Neil Russell says staff mounted 'a cavalcade of lies' to cover up their failures in the months that followed.

'If no change comes from what happened to Poppy, then what's the point?' Katie said, explaining why the couple chose to work with the trust rather than walk away consumed by anger.