An inquest has found a woman died following neglect from a hospital after giving birth.

Park Wood mum-to-be Abimbola Babatola was rushed to Tunbridge Wells Hospital in July last year with an unrelated issue.

She was transferred to King's College Hospital in London the next day.

The 39-year-old was heavily pregnant, and three weeks later was given an emergency caesarean section after she went into natural labour.

Although her daughter, Vivienne, survived, the St Catherine’s Road resident died at the Denmark Hill hospital on Friday, July 31.

Her husband, Oladapo Babatola, who works as a doctor at Priority House next to Maidstone Hospital, asked lawyers to investigate the care his wife received in London.

The three-day inquest was held at Southwark Coroner's Court by senior coroner Dr Andrew Harris.

"I conclude that a failure to escalate her care by 5.30am has contributed to her death on the balance of probabilities." - Dr Andrew Harris, coroner.

His report states Nigerian-born Mrs Babatola died from hypoxic-ischaemic encephalopathy - a brain injury caused by lack of oxygen, collapse after caesarean section, post-partum haemorrhage, and sickle cell disease.

She had been unconscious since Monday, July 13, when she was declared brain dead. She died at 6.24am on July 31.

Just days before the C-section, doctors found Mrs Babatola had suffered from suspected pulmonary embolism - a blockage in her lungs - and was treated with blood-thinning medication.

The coroner concluded her death was caused by natural causes, contributed to by a failure to help her deteriorating condition after her operation in the recovery ward.

He said this "amounted to neglect".

The coroner found an intravenous tube, which staff thought was giving her fluids after her C-section, was not working.

The real issue lay in the fact that she was not given a blood transfusion however.

Before she gave birth, this procedure had not been performed on Mrs Babatola. She had also been suffering from pains related to her sickle cell disease, caused by blood vessels becoming blocked.

Dr Harris added: "I conclude a failure to escalate her care by 5.30am has contributed to her death on the balance of probabilities."

"I am satisfied with regard to the omissions that have contributed to her death, which all constitute the provision or procurement of basic medical care."

Richard Kayser, a specialist medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell LLP, representing Dr Babatola, said: "Her family have been left completely devastated after losing her so suddenly.

"We hope the failings highlighted during the inquest will provide the hospital with some learning points so no one else will suffer needlessly."

King's College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust has issued the following statement in relation to this case: "We would like to extend our heartfelt condolences to Mrs Babatola’s family for their loss. We know this must continue to be an extremely difficult time for them.

"As anyone who was at the inquest will have heard, the death of Abimbola Babatola profoundly affected the staff involved in caring for her.

"Although maternal deaths of this kind are extremely rare, we carried out a full internal investigation into the circumstances surround Mrs Babatola’s care.

"As a result, we have made changes to strengthen the standards of maternity care at King’s College Hospital.

"These include ensuring high dependency units have a second midwife available to unwell mothers, that IV access is checked for adequacy, and implementing a maternal early warning score to make it easier for staff to recognise and escalate a deteriorating patient.

"We accept the coroner’s findings and once again would like to offer our deepest sympathies to Mrs Babatola’s family and loved ones."