‘I feared being labelled ‘the angry Black woman’ – but 5 weeks later my baby was dead’

A mum whose baby died at five weeks old has spoken out after a damning report exposed the huge disparities in maternity care between Black and white women in the UK.

Lois Carew Doyley’s second child, her daughter Markeshia, died with strep B infection at just five weeks old. One baby a week dies of Group B strep in the UK with Black infants dying of the infection more frequently than white children.

Yet Lois says her family were not told about the risk and subsequently lost Markeshia. Lois said that despite discovering she was a Strep B carrier, when she became pregnant again she did not receive antibiotics to reduce any risk when she was in hospital.

She said: “That was when I felt I wasn’t getting proper care. How can I arrive as high risk when I’ve already had a baby that has died, and they won’t give me the antibiotics? They had no interest in me whatsoever.”

The former teacher, from Surrey, believes her ethnicity played a part in the treatment she received: “I think it’s an unconscious bias, really, it was a mess.”

She said she “felt like she just had to do what she was told” and didn’t want to scream and shout for fear of having the racist trope “the angry Black woman” used against her.

Lois – who has two surviving sons, Joel, 17, and Jayden, 12, born before and after tragic Markeshia in 2009 – now believes her treatment may have been different if she was white.

She says she didn’t want to name the hospital as she believes the unconscious bias is system-wide issue rather than an individual hospital’s problem.

Earlier this month it was revealed that Black women were four times more likely to die in childbirth than white women. The Women and Equalities Committee report claimed racism played a key role in creating health disparities.

Lois told the Mirror that during Joel and Markeshia’s pregnancies, she had waited at home until she was advised to arrive by the hospital. But when she turned up, she was both times brushed aside, without anyone checking how her labour was progressing.

She said: “They should have checked me but they didn’t. I followed all the rules, waiting at home until the right time and was told to sit in the waiting room.

“I was always taught to use my voice and articulate rather than scream and shout, that’s how I was brought up and for 90% of my life that has served me well.”

By the time Lois did get seen during her first labour with Joel, they realised her son was in the breech position and because she hadn’t been checked on arrival, there was no time for a C-section as his feet were already out.

Despite the risk to both mother and child, little Joel was born naturally.

Lois said her second birth with Markeshia was similar – although she was now categorised as “high priority”, she said she was once again ignored until the last moment when her little girl arrived.

The tot appeared healthy and happy, and had been putting on weight during her first few weeks, but at just five weeks old she was found unconscious in her cot by dad Dennis about 10 minutes after her night feed.

Despite Dennis doing CPR and keeping her alive until the paramedics took over and the family were rushed to hospital, Markeshia died, with tests later confirming she had Group B Strep.

Group B Strep is present in about 20% to 40% of women and is not harmful to the mother. However, it can pose a risk to a child during birth.

Last summer, a study led by the UK Health Security Agency found that rates of Group B Streptococcal disease – the most common cause of life-threatening infection in newborn babies – was 51% higher for Black infants than for those who are white.

If mothers are aware they have Group B Strep (GBS), they can be given antibiotics during labour to protect their child.

Lois said: “I was really shocked when I found out it was GBS. I thought that was there something I should have noticed. I had no idea what GBS was, I’d never heard of it.”

She added “it makes no sense” that Black women – whose children are statistically more likely to get GBS infection – are not made aware of the risk during pregnancy.”

Around a year later, Lois was pregnant with her third child. After paying for a private test, knew she was a Group B Strep carrier and needed antibiotics during labour to protect her infant, but once again she claimed she wasn’t listened to at hospital.

She said: “At the time I just thought maternity care has lost the plot. You can’t think it through when you are in labour, but they have put my health and my baby’s health at risk.”

“You just wanted someone to see you and do what needed to be done and get out of there.

“I didn’t want to scream and shout, I’d had a breech birth, a baby die, cut me some slack.

“When you talk to other women who aren’t Black, I’m not saying they don’t have bad birth stories, but I think that’s when I realise the differences. They are listened to, they ask for something – like antibiotics – and they get it… but I wasn’t.

“We all pay the same taxes, there isn’t a Black rate we pay to get rubbish service.”

Caroline Nokes, who chairs the Women and Equalities Committee, said births on the NHS “are among the safest in the world” but Black women’s raised risk was “shocking” and improvements in disparities between different groups were too slow.

“It is frankly shameful that we have known about these disparities for at least 20 years – it cannot take another 20 to resolve,” she added.

Jane Plumb, founder and chief executive of charity Group B Strep Support told the Mirror: “The report by the Women and Equalities Committee reveals serious disparities in maternal health.

“These issues have been ongoing for many years, as demonstrated by Lois’ tragic experience and Markeshia’s death.

“These disparities in maternal health include group B Strep, where there are significantly higher rates of GBS infection in Black and Asian babies.

“We need more research to understand why Black and Asian babies are more likely to develop group B Strep infection, as well as why pregnant women and people may be treated differently depending on their skin tone.”