British man found dead by his partner hours before the birth of his daughter

Mr Gibson suffered a cardiac arrest while sleeping on the sofa.

A 39-week pregnant mother planning a caesarean section had to perform CPR on her partner after she found him unresponsive. Rebecca Moss remembers telling her partner, “Wake up, it’s baby day,” only to find 40-year-old Thomas Gibson dead after doctors misinterpreted an abnormal heart scan.

Mr Gibson suffered a cardiac arrest while sleeping on the sofa.

Minutes later an ambulance arrived and pronounced him dead, Stockport Coroner’s Court heard. Hours later, Mrs Moss gave birth to her daughter Harper in hospital.

At the investigation into Gibson’s death, a hospital doctor said he had misinterpreted an electrocardiogram (ECG) performed 11 days earlier when he entered the emergency room with severe stomach flu. Sky Newsreported.

Ms Moss recalled waking up at 5:15 a.m. on June 7 last year and going downstairs.

She said: “Tom was sleeping on the couch. I tried to cheer him up and said, ‘Wake up, it’s baby day.'”

“Tom didn’t answer, so I went to the couch to give him a kiss. He was lying in his usual sleeping position.

“When I touched him, he was cold and stiff. He wouldn’t wake up.

“I immediately called 999. They asked me to pull Tom to the floor and perform CPR. I started CPR until the ambulance arrived.

“The shock, the trauma and not to mention the physical exertion of having to pull Tom up from the couch and perform CPR at 39 weeks’ pregnancy were overwhelming.”

Later that morning, Mrs. Moss gave birth to her daughter, Harper.

Speaking of Mr Gibson, Ms Moss described him as “caring, charming and funny” and said she was looking forward to becoming a father.

Ms Moss told the news agency that she would celebrate her daughter’s first birthday, but without her father.

“He won’t be there for any of her birthdays,” she added. “He won’t be there on Christmas morning and he won’t be there on Father’s Day either. Harper will visit her father’s grave instead when she’s old enough to understand.”

“We say goodnight to his picture every night before bed and she has a quilt made from his favorite sweaters.

“Tom will live on in his daughter, but that doesn’t change the fact that he should still be here with us today.”

Mrs Moss gave evidence at the inquest that Mr Gibson worked in a lumber yard and was physically fit but suffered from an upset stomach. He suffered from cramps and diarrhoea about three weeks before his death.

On 27 May last year, he attended the emergency department at Wythenshawe Hospital and was examined by Dr Oliver Handley. The doctor noted that his ECG trace showed signs of an abnormality and referred him to a more experienced doctor for a second opinion.

Dr Thomas Bull said the ECG scan likely showed an abnormality, which he described as intraventricular block, which was “not an unusual finding” and, in the absence of other heart-related symptoms, was not “clinically significant”.

“I have pointed out that at this time no investigation is necessary if there are no general cardiac symptoms,” said Dr Bull.

A later analysis revealed that the ECG identified a complete heart block, also called third degree heart block.

Dr Bull added: “Now, looking back and with hindsight, I realise that there are anomalies beyond those I could detect.”

Mr Gibson was discharged from hospital without immediate treatment.

He was asked to come back in a week if his health did not improve, but unfortunately he was found dead 11 days later.

Lawyers for Mr Gibson’s relative said Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust had admitted full liability for the negligent medical care provided to the relative in the days before his death.