Mother’s heart failed in labour

A POLICEWOMAN who collapsed in a hospital lavatory while in labour with twins died of natural causes, a coroner ruled today.

Sarah Underhill, 37, a Thames Valley Police neighbourhood officer whose babies were conceived through IVF, collapsed at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

A post-mortem revealed she died last October after labour started and amniotic fluid entered her bloodstream.

Her babies had been due to be induced the following day, her 36th week of pregnancy, as she was suffering from pre-eclampsia, which causes high blood pressure, Oxford coroner's court heard.

Coroner Nicholas Gardiner said: "The twins were successfully delivered but sadly she went into a cardiac arrest from which she could not be
retrieved."

In a statement read by family lawyer John Coughlan, Mrs Underhill's husband Richard said: "She was a devoted daughter, caring sister and beautiful wife. It is heartbreaking that she will not go on to become the wonderful mother she would have been."

Mr Underhill, 39, cares for six-month-old twins Hannah and James in Didcot, Oxfordshire.