A MUM who was seconds from death after giving birth wants answers after York Hospital lost her notes.

Mum-of-three Sarah Burton, 40, of Barney Lane, Flaxton, near York, gave birth to her third child, Marnie, by emergency caesarean section at York Hospital on October 19.

At first, everything appeared to go well with the birth and Sarah was returned to the maternity ward.

But she began to pass out and doctors discovered she had an internal bleed which had leaked seven pints of blood into her abdomen - about half the amount of blood the body holds.

"I was seconds from dying," said Sarah, "Now I can't get any answers from the hospital because they say they've lost my notes. If the midwife hadn't been on the ward at the time, I could have just slipped into unconsciousness and died."

Sarah said hospital practice was to check on new mums every four hours.

"I was told the practice is to only monitor new mums every four hours, but this has to be changed, because in my case that would have been too late."

Sarah's daughter, Marnie, was born at 6.50am on October 19 and weighed 10lb 4oz.

By about 11.50am, Sarah said she was phoning friends and family to let them know the good news, and a midwife was in the room attending to another baby.

She said: "It was then I started to feel unwell. I was sick and noticed it was black. I thought it was blood, so I called the midwife over.

"All of a sudden, I couldn't breathe. It was as if something heavy was pushing on my chest. The doctor came and looked at me. The room started to close in and everything went black."

Sarah's husband, Simon, 43, was called back to the hospital and Sarah had to have a ten-pint blood transfusion.

She said: "They told me I was very close to death and I still have nightmares now. When I think what could have happened, I'm lucky to still be alive."

Since her surgery, Sarah, who has two other children, 16-year-old Joshua and Max, ten, has been back to the hospital for meetings, but said she had been unable to get any clear answers as to what went wrong.

She said: "They said they've looked all over the hospital for my notes, but they have lost them.

"It worries me to think my notes could be anywhere, and somebody else could be reading through my entire medical history."

Hospital nursing director Mike Proctor said: "The issue raised by Mrs Burton has been the subject of lengthy discussions, including a meeting between Mrs Burton, her advocate, the head of midwifery and two consultant obstetricians.

"I do not believe it's appropriate for me to encourage extending the debate in the newspaper.

"If Mrs Burton has further unanswered questions, I suggest she contacts Mrs Jackson, the head of midwifery, who will be delighted to help her."