Matt Gray (35) was forced to deliver his own daughter and untangle her umbilical cord from around her neck after a midwife panicked and left the delivery room during his wife Jo Gray's (33) labor at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxfordshire, UK. The incident occurred on 21/2 when Jo, who had a high-risk pregnancy due to an underlying health condition and was two weeks early, went into labor.

Initially, a midwife helped Jo stay calm. This midwife then left, replaced by another staff member. As Jo began to push, the fetal heart rate unexpectedly fluctuated with each contraction. The replacement midwife became flustered, announced the baby's heart rate was dangerously dropping, and then panicked and left the room.

Matt ran out to call her back. However, she left again shortly after, abandoning the couple in the delivery room. Matt tried to press the call button behind the bed, but it was broken. Realizing there was no time to wait, he immediately found medical gloves, put them on, and stood ready at the foot of the bed.

The maternity unit at John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, England. Photo: Mirror

When his daughter was born, Matt discovered the umbilical cord was tightly wrapped around her neck. He calmly loosened it, carefully slipped the cord over the baby's head to clear her airway, wiped mucus from her face, and then placed her on his wife's chest.

"It was terrifying; things almost went very wrong. I have a history of difficult births, so I was extremely panicked when I heard the announcement that our baby's heart rate was dropping", Jo recounted. Approximately 15 minutes later, a medical team arrived to find the baby safely delivered.

The couple decided to file a complaint with Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (OUH), which manages the hospital, and the CQC, the healthcare quality watchdog in England. An OUH representative confirmed they are investigating the incident and have apologized to the family. "We take the issues they raised very seriously and will announce the results once the process is complete", the representative stated.

OUH's maternity unit is currently among 12 facilities under scrutiny in a national investigation into maternity and neonatal services in England. An interim report revealed prolonged systemic deficiencies in care, severely impacting the lives of women and newborns.